Multivariate Analysis of Morphological and Anatomical Characters of Calophyllum L. (Calophyllaceae) in South America

Calophyllum (Calophyllaceae), previously placed in Clusiaceae, is recognizable by its opposite entire leaves with close parallel venation alternating with resin canals. However, distinction between species has been considered a difficult endeavor, because of infraspecific variation in tepal and stamen number and resemblance among species that share similar habitats. Here, for first time (1) is reported the results of multivariate analyses of both morphological and anatomical characters for Calophyllum in South America, and (2) a treatment for the genus in South America is proposed, the first since that of Vesque in 1893. Thirteen preliminary morphogroups were identified. 32 morphological characters of the leaf, flower and fruit were measured on 400 specimens, and 18 anatomical leaf characters were taken from 45 specimens; they were analyzed using Principal Component Analyzes (PCA). From the thirteen preliminary morphogroups, four species are recognized in South America, and two new species, one for South America and another for Central America, are here described