Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis (Sénéclauze) W.H.G.Barrett & L.Golfari

  • Authority

    Farjon, Aljos K. & Styles, Brian T. 1997. Pinus (Pinaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 75: 1-291. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Pinaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis (Sénéclauze) W.H.G.Barrett & L.Golfari

  • Type

    Type. Belize. El Cayo, 5 Nov 1960, Barrett 77582 (neotype, designated by Barrett & Golfari, 1962, BAB).

  • Synonyms

    Pinus hondurensis Sénécl., Pinus hondurensis Loock

  • Description

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    Variety Description - Tree, medium to tall, height to 20-35(-40) m, dbh to 60-100 cm. Fascicle sheaths 15-20 mm long, retaining their length at maturity; the scales papery, with erose-ciliate margins, yellowish brown, turning dark red-brown or grey-black. Leaves in fascicles of 3 (rarely 2, 4, very rarely 5), spreading, straight, (slightly) twisted, rigid, (12-) 16-28 cm X (1.2-) 1.4-1.8 mm, light green, occasionally glaucous-green, more or less lustrous. Stomata on all faces of leaves, in 8-14 lines on the convex abaxial face and 4-6 lines on each adaxial face. Seed cones (4-)5-12(-13) X 3.5-7 cm when open. Seed scales ca. 120-170, more or less thin woody. Apophysis slightly or strongly raised, but less so on basal scales, rhombic to pentagonal in outline with upper margin irregularly undulate, chestnut-brown, lustrous. Umbo dorsal, slightly raised or curved upward, up to 3 X 34 mm. Cotyledons 5-8, 20-35 mm long. Seedlings with an elongated stem, primary leaves glaucous, more or less spreading, development of secondary leaves delayed.

  • Discussion

    Uses. Pinus cubensis, and especially the Mesoam-erican variety hondurensis, is an important timber tree forming easily accessible, extensive stands in level to moderately hilly terrain. As such it is heavily exploited, and although not in danger of extinction in any of its major areas, many local and especially outlying populations that are likely to be genetically distinct are now severely degraded (Dvorak & Donahue, 1992). One of these is Ejido Caobas, Quintana Roo, Mexico, which is the northernmost occurrence of P caribaea var. hondurensis.

    Three varieties of Pinus caribaea are recognized, as is customary also in forestry literature and practice. We have not found sufficient evidence (i.e., discontinuous, fixed characters) to separate var. hondurensis from P. caribaea as a distinct species, despite its greater variability.

    Rowlee (1903) was apparently not aware of More-let’s species, which had been published in a comparatively unknown periodical and was not mentioned in later nineteenth-century general treatments of conifers. His P. recurvata is a taxonomic synonym of P. caribaea var. caribaea, not of P. tropicalis as it is sometimes cited. Rowlee also described P. cubensis var. anomala from near “Jucaro Landing” on the eastern side of Isla de la Juventud. Pinus cubensis does not occur on this island, and this variety is also synonymous with R caribaea var. caribaea. Its “anomalous” leaf-like cataphylls described from young shoots appear to be not different from those in the species generally. Lückhoff (1964) considers the adnate seedwing of P. caribaea from Cuba (Pinar del Rio), “as opposed to the clearly articulate seed wings from all other areas,” the most outstanding difference between seeds of the various provenances. His observations are based on examination of large samples and methods of “seed handling or cleaning.” Adnate seeds occur in the Bahamas as well as in Honduras, as has been pointed out by Loock (1950) for Honduras and observed in this study. This casts serious doubts on the “infallible means of identifying” P. caribaea var. caribaea by this character state, as Lückhoff (1964) suggested.

    Grisebach (1864) described Pinus bahamensis as a new species from the Bahamas, based on Grisebach s.n. (holotype, K, lost). Grisebach, too, was apparently not aware of Morelet’s description of P. caribaea. Barrett and Golfari (1962) designated a neotype. They mention several differential character states from P. caribaea and conclude that the pines of the Bahamas should be classified as a variety of it. Apart from lower leaf numbers, they find a greater size range in the cones and predominantly articulate seed wings. From our observations, it appears that such differences are present, but less pronounced as suggested by Barrett and Golfari (1962) and on the whole with considerably overlapping character states. Both the lower average number of leaves per fascicle and the more often articulate seed wings are characters that P. caribaea var. bahamensis shares with P. elliottii (var. densa) of the SE United States.

    Sénéclauze (1868) described a new species of pine based on material he had received in 1854 for his nursery at Bourg-Argental (Dept. Loire, France) with the name Pinus hondurensis. His description, though very concise and based only on foliage, is not at variance with the present concept of the species and cannot be confused with any other taxon in Belize or coastal Honduras. There is no reason, therefore, to reject the name in favour of Loock’s later homonym. No original material appears to be extant (the description may have been based on live material with no specimens preserved) and a neotype has been designated by Barrett and Golfari (1962). Loock (1950), like other writers before him (e.g., de Vall, 1941) compared P. caribaea auct. from Mesoamerica with P. elliottii (then still commonly known, especially among foresters, as P. caribaea Morelet) and concluded that he had a case for treating them as different species. Unaware of both Morelet (1851, 1855) and Sénéclauze (1868), he proposed the obvious epithet hondurensis. There is no reason to doubt that Loock referred to the same taxon as Sénéclauze had in mind. Morphological characters are especially variable in Mesoamerican Pinus caribaea, which has the greatest geographical range and ecological amplitude of the species as a whole (Styles & Hughes, 1983). These authors, as well as Barrett and Golfari (1962) and Lückhoff (1964) report differences in colour and growth pattern of seedlings between P. caribaea var. hondurensis and the two Caribbean varieties. We have used these, besides mature foliage characters, to key out the varieties. Additionally, the more strongly developed apophyses of the cone scales in P. caribaea var. hondurensis are usually a reliable character state.

    Hybridization between P. caribaea var. hondurensis and P. oocarpa has often been inferred from intermediate morphology (see Styles et al., 1982, for review) and is possible in areas where both taxa are sympatric and their phenologies overlap in time, as is the case in NW Honduras. Putative hybrids with P. tecunumanii (as P. oocarpa var. ochoterenae, vide Perry, 1991) as well as with P. oocarpa are reported from Mountain Pine Ridge in Belize and other areas.

    Distribution and Ecology: Mexico (S Quintana Roo), Belize, N Guatemala, Honduras (including the Islas de la Bahia), Nicaragua. Mainly distributed on the lowland coastal plains within the Atlantic climatic influence, from the edges of mangrove swamps to lower upland “bunch-grass/pine savannas.” In Nicaragua it is the southernmost pine in the Americas. It occurs on well-drained, sandy or gravelly, acidic soils, forming pure (or sometimes mixed with P. oocarpa and/or P. tecunumanii) fire-climax forest, or pine-oak forest, with undergrowth of grasses, Pteridium aquilinum, or Sabal palmetto nearer the coast, possibly replacing broad-leaved rain forest under human influence in many areas. The altitudinal range is 1-700(-1000?) m. Annual precipitation varies greatly, from the highest measurement, ca. 4000 mm, at Laguna del Pinar in Nicaragua to the lowest, ca. 660 mm, at Los Limones in the interior of Honduras; it generally increases from the interior valleys to the coastal plain and from north to south along the coast. The dry winter season decreases in duration in a similar pattern. Mean annual temperature is 21-27°C and no frosts occur.

    Phenology: Pollen is shed in the early part of the dry season. Styles et al. (1982) cited reports of pollen dispersal in November and January in different areas.

  • Distribution

    Mexico North America| Quintana Roo Mexico North America| Guatemala Central America| Alta Verapaz Guatemala Central America| Baja Verapaz Guatemala Central America| Chiquimula Guatemala Central America| Petén Guatemala Central America| Izabal Guatemala Central America| Zacapa Guatemala Central America| Belize Central America| Belize Belize Central America| Cayo Belize Central America| Orange Walk Belize Central America| Stann Creek Belize Central America| Toledo Belize Central America| Honduras Central America| Comayagua Honduras Central America| Copán Honduras Central America| Cortés Honduras Central America| El Paraíso Honduras Central America| Francisco Morazán Honduras Central America| Intibucá Honduras Central America| Islas de la Bahía Honduras Central America| Olancho Honduras Central America| Santa Bárbara Honduras Central America| Nicaragua Central America| Nueva Segovia Nicaragua Central America| Zelaya Nicaragua Central America|