Plantae, Ericales, Symplocaceae, Symplocos falcata Brand: distribution extension and geographic distribution map

Symplocos Jacq., one of the two genera of the family Symplocaceae, comprises 318 species distributed in the Americas, eastern Asia, and Australasia (Fritsch et al. 2008). In Brazil, there are approximately 40 species of Symplocos occurring mainly in the Brazilian savanna (Cerrado) and Atlantic Rainforest of southern and southeastern Brazil. Symplocos can be recognized in Brazil by the following combination of characters: simple, alternate, and estipulate leaves; axillary inflorescences; bisexual or rarely unisexual actinomorphic flowers; a connate calyx and corolla; an androecium with usually numerous and epipetalous stamens; globose or ellipsoid anthers, notably shorter than the filaments; an inferior ovary with three to seven locules; one to four unitegmic ovules; a drupaceous fruit crowned by the persistent calyx.

Symplocos Jacq., one of the two genera of the family Symplocaceae, comprises 318 species distributed in the Americas, eastern Asia, and Australasia (Fritsch et al. 2008). In Brazil, there are approximately 40 species of Symplocos occurring mainly in the Brazilian savanna (Cerrado) and Atlantic Rainforest of southern and southeastern Brazil. Symplocos can be recognized in Brazil by the following combination of characters: simple, alternate, and estipulate leaves; axillary inflorescences; bisexual or rarely unisexual actinomorphic flowers; a connate calyx and corolla; an androecium with usually numerous and epipetalous stamens; globose or ellipsoid anthers, notably shorter than the filaments; an inferior ovary with three to seven locules; one to four unitegmic ovules; a drupaceous fruit crowned by the persistent calyx.
One of the Brazilian species of Symplocos is S. falcata, a member of S. series Symplocos, informal group Neosymplocos (sensu Fritsch et al. 2008). Species of this group are easily recognized by their pubescent filaments (Aranha Filho et al. 2007;Fritsch et al. 2008). Neosymplocos currently contains twelve species growing mainly in Atlantic Rainforest or occasionally in rocky outcrops (campo rupestre) of southern and southeastern Brazil (Aranha Filho et al. 2007;  PEI has elevations from 700 to 1,722 m and an area of 7,543 ha located in the municipalities of Ouro Preto and Mariana between the coordinates 20°22'30" -20°30'00" S, 43°32'30" -43°22'30" W (Dutra et al. 2008;IEF 2009). According to Köppen's classification, the climate type in the region is Cwb, with annual rainfall ranging from 1,450 to 1,800 mm and annual average temperature from 17 °C to 18.5 °C (Werneck et al. 2000), but in the winter the temperatures can be negative with high atmospheric humidity (IGA 1995). Its vegetation is composed mainly of rocky outcrops and semideciduous montane forest (Dutra et al. 2008). Although S. falcata grows in an upper montane semideciduous forest in PEI (as previously mentioned), the fragment where we collected it has typical species of upper montane rainforest (Meira Neto et al. 1989;Oliveira-Filho and Fontes 2000), such as Aniba firmula and Nectandra nitidula ( We predict that S. falcata will be found near Ouro Preto (e.g. municipalities of Barão de Cocais, Belo Horizonte, Itabirito, and Mariana), southeastern Quadrilátero Ferrífero. This is because this region is mountainous, with deep valleys and steep slopes which defines the conformation, speed and flow of drainage, and allows the creation of environmental conditions for the development and maintenance of the upper montane rainforest, typical habitat of S. falcata.
Among Neosymplocos species, S. falcata is characterized by branchlets sparse to densely sericeous / tomentose, hirsute or strigose; young leaves densely sericeous / tomentose or strigose; mature leaves glabrous or glabrate, but always with the blade visible through the indument; bracts and calyx densely ferrugineous-pubescent; young fruit with calyx lobes densely ferrugineouspubescent; and mature fruit cylindrical or subcylindrical and 8-10 mm long. Both stamen orientation and anther color are important for Neosymplocos taxonomy. Typically, S. falcata has stamens that are erect to slightly curved inward with greenish to whitish anthers (Aranha Filho et al. 2007). Specimens from PEI, however, have stamens that are strongly curved inward and yellowish anthers, characteristics otherwise unknown to the species. These floral variations are unlikely to result from environmental factors because there would be differences also on the inflorescence structure and/or leaf morphology, but S. falcata from PEI matches S. falcata collected elsewhere in all other morphological aspects. Due to the specificity between flowers and pollinators, floral differences within a species or among phylogenetically related species are almost exclusively a genetic variation and not environmentally influenced (Cardim et al. 2001). Thus, the floral differences we found suggest that the population of S. falcata from PEI is genetically different from other populations of this species.
Alternatively, the isolated pattern of floral variation in the population from PEI may be nearly a result of sampling error. In Neosymplocos, both stamen orientation (erect to strongly curved inward) and anther color (whitish, greenish or yellowish) are modified after the drying process and it is almost impossible to see the states of such characters in dried specimens. Thus, in order to observe the states of these two characters, it is necessary to observe the plant in situ. Aranha Filho et al. (2007) described the stamen orientation and anther color based only on two populations of S. falcata: one in Camanducaia (state of Minas Gerais) and one in Caparaó (state of Espírito Santo).
Mining, metallurgical industries, and urban expansion (among other activities) play an important role in the environment degradation of the region of Ouro Preto, especially in deforestation and contamination by toxic products (Teixeira 1983;Pimentel et al. 2003;Varejão et al. 2009). Therefore, the occurrence of S. falcata in a state park helps to protect the only population so far known outside the Serra da Mantiqueira and Serra do Mar complexes.