Luci de Senna-Valle’s research while affiliated with Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and other places

The nineteenth century brought with it a series of renovations in different scientific areas and, also, in aesthetic representations. An increasing desire to be close to nature, to examine it, to unravel it, to systematize it, and to portray it, contributed to the existence of a new dialogue between nature and civilization. The appreciation of plant resources influenced the development of botany and the arising of a new grammar in the art of elaborating gardens. The first “artificial landscape” elaborated in nineteenth-century Brazil were creations of the French landscaper Auguste François Marie Glaziou, who stood out not only for leaving deep marks on the urban landscape of the capital of the Second Empire but also as a scholar of the natural world. Through the analysis of documents of the time, it was possible to catalog the plants that were present in the former imperial garden of Quinta da Boa Vista, conceived by Glaziou, and thus to reconstitute some of the history of this important horticultural laboratory, providing information of botanical, historical, cultural, and artistic importance.

The Scientific Exploration Commission was the first Brazilian Empire’s scientific expedition exclusively conducted by Brazilians, who went through the State of Ceará, including neighbor states regions, between February of 1859 and July of 1861. The object was to do an inventory of the natural resources from the North of Brazil’s provinces. The Botanical Section was directed by Francisco Freire Allemão (1797–1874) and his adjunct and nephew Manoel Freire Allemão de Cysneiros (1832–1861). The botanical material collected was deposited in the National Museum’s herbarium (R). All the materials related to the expedition were reunited besides the National Library’s manuscripts. A total of 1794 exsiccates were gathered from this Expedition, comprising 1169 species, distributed in 137 botanical families. From the manuscripts 713 files were related to 695 species and 1300 quotes in their diaries. The exchange of cultural information sometimes is missed in scientific papers, in opposition to Freire Allemão that clearly mentioned his contributors; one of the famous ones was the Brazilian poet, Gonçalves Dias. Freire Allemão identified in his diaries 702 ethnospecies, of which 436 that are distributed in 102 are possible to be currently recognized. Noteworthy is that the carnauba palm stands out as the most quoted and indicated plant.

During the XIXth century, the transfer of plants for various purposes became increasingly widespread and spanned the globe. The present study aims to inventory the potentially useful species which formed part of the two-way exchange between Brazil and England, based on the information found in the letters written by Auguste François Marie Glaziou, General Director of Forests and Gardens of the Imperial House in Rio de Janeiro and landscape artist to the Emperor, to botanists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. A total of 60 manuscripts housed in the archives of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew were analysed. Sixty three species from 32 botanical families were quoted as useful within the documentation. Plants were grouped into five use categories, according to the uses listed by Glaziou. The high number of taxa in the ornamental category reveals the great interest in ornamental plants on the part of both Glaziou and the Kew botanists.

The number of publications about the Caiçaras population is growing, which shows that researchers are interested in these natives. This study aimed to survey the flora used by local specialists of the Praia do Sono Caiçara community, and recorded how these taxa were used, with the goal of understanding traditional management systems that help to conserve natural ecosystems. Twelve informants were selected and interviewed. The applied grouping analysis, together with the chi-squared test, underlined that the analysed ethnobotanical knowledge showed a heterogeneous distribution in relation to the gender of the interviewee. A total of 190 taxa were cited and were classified into nine usage categories. The Shannon-Wiener index (H') value obtained in this study was the second highest in comparison to other Brazilian coastal communities. This work showed that the local specialists of this Caiçara community maintain a wide knowledge of, and affinity to, the plant resources that surround them. This knowledge is not only important, but fundamental to discussions about the application of sustainable use and management strategies for this area of conservation value.

The "caiçara" community of Praia do Sono retains some of the habits and traditions from ancient generations. This may be due to the difficulties of accessibility to that area. This paper aims to investigate the knowledge about the medicinal plants in this community. Twelve specialist informants were selected and interviewed (six men and six women). Eighty-nine species were cited, belonging to 43 botanical families. Lamiaceae and Asteraceae are the most representative ones. Therapeutic indications were decoded and grouped in 13 categories of diseases. This classification follows the ICD-10 adopted by WHO. Information regarding the plant tissue used, their uses and the collection sites were indicated. Ten species showed great versatility of uses, with IR>1. Of the 13 species that have CUPc values over 50%, Cecropia pachystachya Trec.; Davilla rugosa Poiret and Trema micrantha (L.) Blume are native to the Atlantic Forest. These results can be used as a motivation for further studies in the area and also can provide the basis for future studies on chemical constituents and pharmacological proprieties of the plants cited.

Croton josephinus Müll.Arg., a member of Croton sect. Medea (Klotzsch) Baill. (Euphorbiaceae), has not been recollected since 1824, nor mentioned in the literature since its original publication in 1873. This species has recently been rediscovered in a campo rupestre area at the Pico 1430 m of the Serra de São José, Minas Gerais, after 20 years of field work in the area. In the protologue Croton josephinus was cited as having been collected from São Paulo State. This is likely to have been a simple misattribution of the area where it occurs. Based on the new material collected, a detailed description and an illustration of the species are provided. A lectotype and an isolectotype are designated.

Euphorbiaceae s.s. is one of the largest angiosperm families, comprising nine major lineages. Molecular analysis indicated a polyphyletic condition in the subfamily Crotonoideae s.l., with four lineages identified, including one termed inaperturate crotonoids, which encompasses the tribe Crotoneae. Anatomical data were obtained from 15 species of Croton sect. Cyclostigma (Griseb.) Müll. Arg., Brasiliocroton P. Berry & I. Cordeiro and Astraea Klotzsch, which belongs to this lineage. The presence and protodermal origin of the idioblasts with lipophilic content and the interruption of the palisade by collenchyma layers on the adaxial side of the mid vein are common to the Croton L. species analysed and Brasiliocroton. The presence of dorsiventrality, paracytic stomata, collateral vascular bundles, branched non-articulated laticifers and crystal idioblasts in the species studied indicates morphological similarities among the three genera. The interpretation of the stipite of the complex trichomes as emergences is a structural novelty for the group. Leaf anatomy provided an excellent source of characters for future studies of the tribe Crotoneae (Euphorbiaceae s.s., Malpighiales).

MEDEIROS, D., L. SENNA-VALLE, AND R. J. V. ALVES (Department of Botany, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 20.940-040, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil). J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 136: 186-191. 2009-Two new species of Croton L. (Euphorbiaceae) from campos rupestres of Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Two new species of Croton L. (Euphorbiaceae) are described and illustrated. Croton lenheirensis and C. pradensis occur in campo rupestre vegetation on quartzitic soils in the State of Minas Gerais, the former from Serra do Lenheiro in Sao Jodo del Rei and the later from Serra de Sao Jose in Tiradentes. Both localities are within an important center of endemism for Croton sect. Medea (Klotzsch) Baill., which is represented by at least 30 species from South America. Taxonomic characters which circumscribe the Section are subshrub and shrub habit, laciniate or glandular stipules, stellate indumentum, distribution of glands at the margins of either laciniate or entire sepals of the pistillate flowers, and multifid styles. Croton lenheirensis morphologically resembles C. gnidiaceus Baill., but differs by triangular stipules, lack of petals in pistillate flowers and of apressed-stellate trichomes. Croton pradensis shares morphological characters with C. vestitus Spreng. and C. josephinus Will. Arg,, species also represented on Serra de Sao Jose flora, but it is easily distinguishable from both by its wooly sparse indumentum and pistillate flowers which present entire eglandular sepals and no petals.