Hilda Flores

• PhD
• National Autonomous University of Mexico

Plant-plant interactions are major determinants of the dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems. There is a long tradition in the study of these interactions, their mechanisms and their consequences using experimental, observational and theoretical approaches. Empirical studies overwhelmingly focus at the level of species pairs or small sets of species....

Background: Shrubs recognized as I. hartmanii were known from the northern Mexican deserts, whereas I. cassiniiformis is considered to occur throughout the Mexican highlands. Morphologically similar individuals were reported under both names also south beyond the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to Guatemala. Question: Are I. hartmanii and I. cassiniiformis...

Antecedentes: A pesar de su gran diversidad y la grave amenaza a la que están expuestos, los pastizales templados han recibido escasa atención. Pregunta: Este estudio examina la biodiversidad de paisajes y taxonómía en los pastizales templados de Oaxaca. Especies estudiadas: Flora vascular. Sitio de estudio y fechas: Los pastizales volcánicos (PV),...

Biotic interactions are highly affected by species traits and micro‐environmental variability. Research on facilitation has primarily focused on how nurse species alleviate abiotic stress for beneficiary species, while the impact of the micro‐environmental variability generated by nurse plants in shaping facilitation outcomes is poorly understood....

Background and aims-Ongoing studies on Mexican Rubiaceae revealed an undescribed species of Coutaportla endemic to the Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests in the state of Sinaloa, near the border with Durango, Mexico. The species is here described and illustrated, and its morphological characters are compared with those of the other species in...

Gypsum soils occur around the world, mainly in arid regions. These harsh environments promote unusual flora with high degrees of endemism. Mexico has extensive gypsum outcrops, but their flora has been poorly studied. However, the highest species richness and endemism are expected to be concentrated in Mexico’s northern dry regions. To promote the...

Entre las Nyctaginaceae, Mirabilis se caracteriza por tener inflorescencias cimosas e involucros de 5 brácteas connadas y acrescentes en fruto, subyacentes a 1-3 flores. Con 55-57 especies, es uno de los géneros más diversos dentro de la familia. El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar la diversidad de Mirabilis en México, presentar el tratamiento...

Background and aims – Ongoing studies on Mexican Rubiaceae revealed an undescribed species of Coutaportla endemic to the Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests in the state of Sinaloa, near the border with Durango, Mexico. The species is here described and illustrated, and its morphological characters are compared with those of the other species...

Plant recruitment interactions (i.e., what recruits under what) shape the composition, diversity, and structure of plant communities. Despite the huge body of knowledge on the mechanisms underlying recruitment interactions among species, we still know little about the structure of the recruitment networks emerging in ecological communities. Modelin...

Plant recruitment interactions (i.e., who recruits under whom) between 3,318 vascular plant species across the globe

Plant species growing on gypsum substrates, usually found in arid and semi-arid zones, create characteristic landscapes that can harbor highly specialized species, several of which are endemic. In the Cuatro Ciénegas basin (CCB) gypsum is abundant and creates patches of plant assemblages, but little is known about the floristic differences between...

In Flora Uruguaya, José Arechavaleta described two Uruguayan species of Myosotis L. (Boraginaceae) that I. M. Johnston later placed within Antiphytum DC. ex Meisn. Johnston considered M. uruguayensis Arechav. to be a doubtful species that was probably in Antiphytum, apparently nearest to A. cruciatum (Cham.) DC., whereas he treated M. berroi Arecha...

Oenothera sect. Calylophus is a North American group of 13 recognized taxa in the evening primrose family (Onagraceae) with an evolutionary history that may include independent origins of bee pollination, edaphic endemism, and permanent translocation heterozygosity. Like other groups that radiated relatively recently and rapidly, taxon boundaries w...

GYPWORLD: A Global initiative to understand gypsum ecosystem ecology - III Workshop. Book of abstracts and modelling course Guide.

GYPWORLD: A Global initiative to understand gypsum ecosystem ecology - III Workshop. Book of abstracts and modelling course Guide. Almería (Spain) 9-13 may, 2022. University of Almería. ISBN: 978-84-1351-141-2.

GYPWORLD: A Global initiative to understand gypsum ecosystem ecology - III Workshop. Book of abstracts and modelling course Guide. Almería (Spain) 9-13 may, 2022. University of Almería. ISBN: 978-84-1351-141-2.

GYPWORLD: A Global initiative to understand gypsum ecosystem ecology - III Workshop. Book of abstracts and modelling course Guide. Almería (Spain) 9-13 may, 2022. University of Almería. ISBN: 978-84-1351-141-2.

Rogiera (Guettardeae, Rubiaceae) is a Neotropical genus distributed from Mexico to northern South America that includes shrubs, treelets, or trees, which were previously treated in the taxonomically controversial and confused Rondeletia complex. Rogiera can be recognized among other Rubiaceae by the combination of multiflowered inflorescences, hete...

Abstract—Antiphytum charruasorum, a new endemic species from western Uruguay, is described. This is the only South American species in the genus with white corolla and an infra-medial cicatrix on the ventral face of the eremocarp, both features shared with the North American species of Antiphytum, in sharp contrast with the blue corolla and the bas...

Abstract—The recent rediscovery of Jatropha riojae, which was considered as probably extinct, led to a taxonomic re-evaluation of the species due to its problematic circumscription with respect to morphologically similar species of Jatropha section Loureira subsect. Loureira. Based on our study, J. riojae is accepted, taxonomic clarifications are m...

Premise: Recent phylogeographic work suggests the existence of latitudinal gradients in genetic diversity in northern Mexican plants, but very few studies have examined plants of the Chihuahuan Desert. Tidestromia lanuginosa is a morphologically variable annual species whose distribution includes the Chihuahuan Desert Region. Here we undertook phy...

Soils rich in gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) are both a challenge for plant growth and a trigger for plant evolution. Plants that grow only on this type of soils are known as gypsophiles, but there are also generalists that grow on and off gypsum, known as gypsovags. The Cuatro Ciénegas municipality (CCM) in Coahuila is characterized by a complex mosaic of so...

Riparian species colonize habitats induced by disturbance along the hydrologic Churince System in Cuatro Ciénegas (Coahuila, Mexico), like sinkholes and the river and lacustrine dry beds, the dry riverbank, and the surrounding flatland. Among the colonizers of newly opened habitats, dominant species are scarce. They include Samolus ebracteatus var....

Amaranthus (Amaranthaceae) is a widespread genus that includes noxious weeds, economically important species for food, forage, medicinals and ornamentals. Three species of Amaranthus have been cultivated for their grain in the world, i.e. A. hypochondriacus, A. caudatus, and A. cruentus. It has been postulated that A. cruentus was domesticated from...

The great diversity of the genus Mimosa and the difficulty in the circumscription of its species and varieties based on morphology have encouraged the search for characters in other sources of evidence such as wood anatomy, which provides characters of taxonomic importance. The main objective of this study was to identify characters with taxonomic...

A FIRST EVALUATION OF THE CONSERVATION STATUS OF THE GLOBAL GYPSUM FLORA Francisco Javier Pérez García1 (fpgarcia@ual.es) Hossein Akhani, Hilda Flores Olvera, Latif Kurt, Juan Lorite, Michael Lyons, Fabian Martínez-Hernández, Antonio J. Mendoza-Fernández , M. Encarna Merlo, Michael J. Moore, Carmelo M. Musarella, Helga Ochoterena, Ebru Özdeniz, S...

The ongoing paradigm shift in taxonomy from individual contributions to a truly collaborative and forward-looking endeavour results in a number of challenges related to distributed data management. Examination of physical specimens remains a key task, but searching for specimen data, literature, and name information is now mostly done online. In th...

Pseudostaminodia is not accurate term based on ontogenetic studies. De novo floral organs are characterised in this study and called appendages on the filaments and appendages on the androecial tube.

Senna acatlanensis is described and illustrated here. This species is restricted to a forest ecotone in southern Puebla (Mexico), and stands out by its unique large asymmetric flowers, with yellow petals that do not fade away to reddish-brown as they dry-out, heteromorphic and variable androecium; with four staminodes, ten or less fertile stamens;...

Biodiversity has a spatial basis, this is the reason why a geographical basis at a detailed scale is absolutely essential for this study. In the case of the study of gypsophily (i.e., the link between plants and gypsum soils) at a global scale, a cartography of gypsum outcrops worldwide is essential. In order to compile information on gypsum outcro...

Abstract We explored the Sierra El Pelado of the municipality of Acatlán, Puebla, to contribute to the floristic knowledge of the area embedded within the Cuenca del Balsas. Botanical samples were collected and identified with the use of taxonomic keys and tools, and consults with specialists. We recorded 339 species distributed in 225 genera and 6...

On September 17-23 2018, the Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México hosted the Caryophyllales 2018 conference. Three members of the Institute acted as local organizers, but an expanded organizing and scientific committee included ten other institutions representing countries from Europe, Africa, Asia, and America. [see PDF f...

Iresine is a neotropical genus of the Amaranthaceae with most of the species diversity in Mexico and Mesoamerica. It has suffered a complex classification history with considerably diverging views on the genus concept. We have carried out a phylogenetic analysis of Iresine and allied genera using sequence data of combined plastid introns (including...

A new and unusual species of Antiphytum, here named A. geoffreyi, is described and illustrated. This new species is assigned to the genus Antiphytum because it possesses eremocarps directly attached to a pyramidal gynobase, which forms a ventral cicatrix on the eremocarp. However, it is unique within Antiphytum in having multiple inflorescence bran...

Flora Mesoamericana , como otros grandes proyectos de envergadura internacional, tiene una larga historia que inicia en 1972 y se consolida hacia 1980 con la aprobación de 26 personas representantes de 13 instituciones de siete países para el inicio de la flora sinóptica en español. Éste se debe a la iniciativa de Peter H. Raven, entonces Director...

Premise of the study: The Caryophyllales contain ~12,500 species and are known for their cosmopolitan distribution, convergence of trait evolution, and extreme adaptations. Some relationships within the Caryophyllales, like those of many large plant clades, remain unclear, and phylogenetic studies often recover alternative hypotheses. We explore t...

p>Editorial: The knowledge of the flora de Mexico</p

Background: The Bicentenario Reserve (BR) located in Sierra de Zongolica, Veracruz, includes 63 hectares of cloud forest (cf) which lacks of systematic floristic studies, but the Sierra proposed as an area for bird conservation. Questions: i) Is the floristic composition of the BR taxonomical rich? ii) How the growth forms are represented in this R...

A new endemic species of Amaranthus—Amaranthus neei—from Mexico is described, illustrated, and compared to the putatively related species. A. neei is known from the Valley of Mexico (South of Hidalgo, Mexico city, and State of Mexico), Michoacán, Puebla, Veracruz, and Chiapas. The new species is a monoecious herb characterized by its long, pungent,...

Along the Mexican coasts of the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Caribbean, diverse plant communities affected by seawater and breeze, support salt tolerant species here considered as halophilic. Moreover, the intercontinental semiarid and arid regions, and the Transmexican Volcanic Belt are characterized by ecosystems such as endorheic basins, with s...

The Caryophyllales 2015 conference was held at the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, 13–18 September 2015. The conference aimed at fomenting and expanding the international Caryophyllales network, bringing together researchers from all over the world and initiating new collaborations. More than 80 colleagues from 18 countries participated...

Two well-defined new species of Iresine from Mexico are described based on character data covering vegetative and floral morphology, pollen, and sequences of plastid matK-trnK, trnL-F and rpl16 as well as nuclear ITS. We provide morphological and molecular descriptions, as well as a discussion on diagnostic characters and taxonomic affinities. Both...

The Caryophyllales constitute a major lineage of flowering plants with approximately 12500 species in 39 families. A taxonomic backbone at the genus level is provided that reflects the current state of knowledge and accepts 749 genera for the order. A detailed review of the literature of the past two decades shows that enormous progress has been ma...

One of the major goals of systematics is to provide a synthesis of knowledge on the diversity of a group of organisms, such as flowering plants. Biodiversity conservation and management call for rapid and accurate global assessments at the species level. At the same time the rapid development of evolutionary biology with a spectrum of approaches to...

Gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) exposures and gypseous soils occupy over 100 million ha worldwide, primarily in arid and semiarid regions, with particularly large areas of surface gypsum in southwestern Asia, the Mediterranean region, the Horn of Africa and southwestern North America. Each of these areas hosts a diverse assemblage of gypsum endemic plant taxa,...

Exposures of Yeso Formation gypsum along the western escarpment (The Rim) of the Guadalupe Mountains in southeastern New Mexico were first explored botanically in 1996, which revealed the existence of two gypsophilic taxa, Anulocaulis leiosolenus var. howardii and Men-tzelia humilis var. guadalupensis, both of which are only known from that area. F...

Mexico is known for its great diversity and high endemism of plants. The geographic positions of the country as well as the complex geological history, geomorphology, and weather patterns within the territory, among other factors, have resulted in diverse landscapes and soil types. Under xerophytic conditions in the Chihuahuan Desert, a complex mix...

Background and aims – Amaranthaceae comprise the former Chenopodiaceae, Beta, and core-Amaranthaceae. Particularly in the Gomphrenoid clade, most species have flowers with an 'androecial tube'. On its rim and alternating with the stamens, so-called (pseudo-)staminodia occur. However, neither their origin nor function have been clarified. We aimed t...

Alvarado Reyes E. & Flores-Olvera H.: Suaeda pulvinata (Chenopodiaceae), a new species from saline lakes of central Mexico. — Willdenowia 43: 309–314. December 2013. — ISSN 0511-9618; © 2013 BGBM Berlin-Dahlem. Stable URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3372/wi.43.43211 Suaeda pulvinata, a new perennial species of S. sect. Brezia, is described and illustrate...

Durante el trabajo de exploración botánica en la Reserva Bicentenario en Zongolica, Veracruz, se colectaron 600 ejemplares, los cuales al ser identificados con literatura especializada, resultaron en 392 especies de plantas vasculares. Esta presentación ya fue publicada en el año 2017. Floristic Composicion of the Cloud Forest of the Bicentenario...

Iresine rzedowskii Zumaya, Flores Olv. & Borsch and I. valdesii Zumaya, Flores Olv. & Borsch are described, illustrated, and compared to morphologically similar species. In addition, pollen SEM micrographs and distribution maps are provided for the new species. Iresine rzedowskii is a shrub with long clambering stems, the younger ones reddish with...

Se describe e ilustra una nueva especie de Suaeda sect. Brezia, Suaeda edulis Flores Olv. & Noguez. La especie se distribuye en lagos salinos de Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacán, Estado de México, Distrito Federal, Tlaxcala y Puebla. Suaeda edulis fue confundida con S. nigra (= S. torreyana) y con S. mexicana, pero S. edulis es similar a S. calceolif...

A new species of Suaeda sect. Brezia, Suaeda edulis Flores Olv. & Noguez is described and illustrated. It occurs in saline lakes of Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacan, Estado de Mexico, Distrito Federal, Tlaxcala and Puebla. Suaeda edulis was confused with S. nigra (=S. torreyana) and S. mexicana, but it is more similar to S. calceoliformis; it is an a...

Background and Aims Within Chenopodioideae, Atripliceae have been distinguished by two bracteoles enveloping the female flowers/fruits, whereas in other tribes flowers are described as ebracteolate with persistent perianth. Molecular phylogenetic hypotheses suggest ‘bracteoles’ to be homoplastic. The origin of the bracteoles was explained by succes...

Mirabilis, a primarily American genus of 50–60 species almost restricted to the New World, is the most diverse within Nyctaginaceae. It not only has the greatest number of species, but also many life forms, with annual herbaceous, suffrutescent and shrubby species and with prostrate, decumbent to erect stems that are sometimes clambering. Stem anat...

A cladistic analysis including for the first time all taxa of Anulocaulis, five species and four varieties, is presented. Sixteen potentially related taxa classified within Boerhavia, Commicarpus, Cyphomeris, Nyctaginia, and Okenia were used as outgroup to test the monophyly and phylogenetic position of Anulocaulis; Mirabilis glabrifolia was used t...

Based on the lithology of the Izucar de Matamoros (IzM) sections, and the occurrence of index taxa such as Armeria, Cicatricosisporites dorogensis, Corsinipollenites, Eucommia, Momipites coryloides, Momipites tenuipolus, Mutisiapollis, and Ranuculacidites operculatus, a correlation between the IzM sections and the Cuayuca Formation stratotypes is p...

Based on the lithology of the Izucar de Matamoros (IzM) sections, and the occurrence of index taxa such as Armería, Cicatricosisporites dorogensis, Corsinipollenites, Eucommia, Momipites coryloides, Momipites tenuipolus, Mutisiapollis, and Ranuculacidites operculatus, a correlation between the IzM sections and the Cuayuca Formation stratotypes is p...

In spite of recent phylogenetic analyses for the Chenopodiaceae-Amaranthaceae complex, some morphological characters are not unambiguously interpreted, which raises homology questions. Therefore, ontogenetic investigations, emphasizing on 'bracteoles' in Atripliceae and flowers in Chenopodioideae, were conducted. This first paper presents original...

The monospecific genus Plocaniophyllon occurs in mixed forests of Chiapas (Mexico) and San Marcos (Guatemala). Despite the fact that it was described in 1914, it has been poorly collected and consequently it is poorly understood. Here we describe the morphological and anatomical features that characterize Plocaniophyllon flavum Brandegee with the a...

Pollen morphology of 58 species from 17 putative genera of the tribe Atripliceae (Chenopodiaceae) was investigated using light (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Morphological variation was analyzed based on a dense sampling of the subtribes Atriplicinae and Eurotiinae, including many of the species in the two largest genera: Atriplex and...

Six new species of Bernardia from Mexico are described and illustrated. Species are distinguished by a combination of characters such as habit, leaf shape and size, indumentum, venation pattern, gland position, length of staminate inflorescence, number of bracts, number of flowers per bract, size of bracts and tepals, number of stamens, style type,...

Dado el valor histórico y práctico de la lista de árboles y arbustos para repoblar los bosques de la República Mexicana que Altamirano y Ramírez publicaron hace 111 años y de la inaccesibilidad para consultarla, se elaboró una lista con los nombres científicos corregidos y/o los sinónimos actualizados, en su caso, para facilitar la consulta. Se pro...

Because of the importance of the list of plant species for repopulating the forests of the Mexican Republic, first published by Altamirano and Ramírez 111 years ago, and the difficulty to access it, a list is presented considering current trends in ecological restoration, and corrected scientific names were added to facilitate its use. To improve t...

North America is one of three main centers of species endemism for Atriplex, one of the largest genera in Chenopodiaceae. The monoecious herbaceous plants with Kranz anatomy, bibracteolate pistillate flowers lacking a perianth, cuneate to obovate fruiting bracteoles (usually broadest above the middle and connate at least to the middle), and erect s...

The new combinationAdelia cinerea (basionym:Bernardia cinerea) is made. Notes on its distribution and ecology are provided, as well as a full morphological description. A discussion on the morphological and palynological distinctions betweenAdelia andBernardia, and reasons for the transfer, are presented. The placement of this species inAdelia impl...

A new species and a new subspecies of Tidestromia are described and illustrated. Tidestromia valdesiana, restricted to Coahuila, Mexico, is characterized by the absence of an involucre and tepals lanceolate, aristate at the apex with a prominent midnerve and subulate trichomes. Tidestromia lanuginosa subsp. eliassoniana is characterized by having t...

Although there is considerable controversy regarding the phylogenetic structure and infrafamilial classification of Chenopodiaceae, the tribe Atripliceae generally has been recognized as a natural group. Relationships within this tribe remain controversial, especially with regard to the taxonomic delimitation and infrageneric classification of the...

The meiotic chromosome numbers for 18 species of Atriplex section Obione (Chenopodiaceae) are presented. This is the first report for Atriplex abata, A. elegans, A. linifolia, A. minuscula, A. parishii, A. pueblensis, A. tampicensis, A. texana and A. thornberi. Photographs of the meiotic figures of 12 species are presented. All the species are dipl...

Se describe un caso teratológico en un individuo de Atriplex elegans subsp. thornberi (M. E. Jones) W. L. Wagner, proveniente de una población ruderal de Sonora, México. Por las características de la anomalía, que consiste en el aplanamiento y ensanchamiento de un tallo, desde la base hasta la porción terminal que se bifurca y enrolla, se puede con...

Atriplex valdesii, a new species, is de- scribed, illustrated, and compared to its closest pre- sumed relatives. The chromosome number is n = 9; photographs of the meiotic cells are presented. The species inhabits saline soils in San Luis Potosi and Zacatecas, Mexico. Few new species of Atriplex (Chenopodiaceae) have been described from North Ameri...

El Códice de La Cruz-Badiano es el testimonio más antiguo y valioso de la medicina azteca de la primera mitad del siglo XVI. Es un libro sobre herbolaria azteca y sus aplicaciones practicas con ilustraciones coloreadas por indígenas. En este capítulo los autores actualizan las identificaciones de las plantas incluidas en el Códice y presentan un an...

This is a paper that discusses the historical determinations of plants described by Francisco Hernández during the first Spanish exploration of the Nueva España.

Iberoamérica cuenta con extensos desiertos, cuyas temperaturas oscilan entre calores calcinantes y fríos polares. Casi la cuarta parte de México corresponde a zonas áridas; son los desiertos Sonorense y Chihuahuense, que concentran el grueso de su actividad. En Chile destaca el Atacama, uno de los más secos del mundo; y en Argentina la Puna, el de...