Abstract

ARZABA-VILLALBA, Carlos Rafael; CHAZARO-BAZANES, Miguel; LUNA-CAVAZOS, Mario  and  GARCIA-MOYA, Edmundo. Morphometric analysis of Agave sensu stricto (Asparagaceae: Agavoideae) in Veracruz and adjacents areas of Puebla, Mexico. Polibotánica [online]. 2023, n.56, pp.39-59.  Epub Sep 18, 2023. ISSN 1405-2768.  https://doi.org/10.18387/polibotanica.56.3.

The genus Agave includes species of economic and cultural importance for Mexico. In the state of Veracruz there are different opinions about the Agave taxa reported for the state. This fact causes disparity in the information available on the species richness of this genus. The objectives of this research were: to identify the species of Agave present in Veracruz and adjacent areas; to analyze morphological variability; and to determine the morphological characters that allow the recognition of taxa. A multivariate analysis of 29 Agave populations and 57 morphological characters was carried out. The procedures included a clustering analysis with the unweighted arithmetic mean method and the Euclidean distance coefficient. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the 29 populations and 30 quantitative characters. The analyses allowed the recognition of 20 Agave taxa corresponding to 17 species and three infraspecific categories. The most important characteristics that differentiate taxa according to PCA are: flower length, length of the canaliculus of the terminal spine, anther length, length of the bracts of the scape, length of the perigonium tube, length of the external tepal, length of the stamen filament, and ovary breadth. Multivariate analyses support the recognition of 17 species of Agave s.s. in Veracruz and adjacent areas. The high percentages of variation of the floral characters considered support the use of flowers as important attributes for the classification and separation of Agave s.s. species.

Keywords : cluster; maguey; morphological variation; multivariate analysis; principal components.

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