Brosimum

• Authority

  Berg, Cornelius C. 2001. Moreae, Artocarpeae, and (Moraceae): With introductions to the family and and with additions and corrections to Flora Neotropica Monograph 7. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 83: 1-346. (Published by NYBG Press)

• Family

  Moraceae

• Scientific Name

  Brosimum

• Discussion

  More than 25 years of further botanical exploration has moderately affected the taxonomy of this genus. Only one new species, Brosimum multinervium, has been discovered, and B. utile subsp. longifolium has to be reinstated as a species, raising the number of Brosimum species to 15. For several taxa, new records indicate range extensions. These records confirm the distribution patterns within the genus: subg. Ferolia is concentrated in the northern part of the South American continent distinctly associated with the Guiana Shield, and subg. Brosimum has a more diffuse and wider distribution.

  Some synonyms are added to those of the two subspecies of Brosimum alicastrum. Govaerts (1996) listed B. refractum (Miquel, in Martius, Fl. Bras. 4(1): 108. 1853) without indication that it is a nomen nudum.
  The increase of herbarium material, in particular of sterile specimens, indicates more clearly that several species, in particular those of subg. Ferolia, show more or less pronounced differences in leaf characters between the juvenile and adult state of the trees. In the juvenile state the leaves may be larger, the indumentum may be sparser and longer, and the number of lateral veins larger. Juvenile features may be retained into the reproductive state.