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The complex of Ficus thonningii Blume in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: a numerical taxonomic approach

par García Valdez, Fernanda Anahy
Président du jury Dahdouh-Guebas, Farid
Promoteur Meerts, Pierre Jacques
Publication Non publié, 2021-08-31

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Résumé :

The Ficus thonningii Blume complex is very broadly distributed in tropical Africa in both rainforestand savanna woodlands. Due to his extreme morphological variability, the complex has beensubjected to debated classification over time, ranging from the recognition of dozens of species tomerging all forms into a single species. So far, quite surprisingly, no study has explored themorphometric variation of the complex based on statistical methods. Thus this study aims tocontribute to filling this gap of knowledge. In total 64 herbarium specimens from southern DRCongo have been assessed for 22 characters. Both univariate and multivariate methods have beenapplied. Despite wide overlaps of many character ranges, multivariate analysis shows adiscontinuous variation that with the help of some highly distinctive traits to some taxa allows usto identify four groups of specimens. We propose to recognize four taxa in the examinedmaterials, i.e. Ficus rokko Warb. & Schweinf., Ficus persicifolia Welw., Ficus burkei Miq. and anundescribed species.