PLANTAS CON POTENCIAL USO ORNAMENTAL DEL ESTADO DE MORELOS, MÉXICO

Abstract

The state of Morelos is one of the smallest
of the Mexican Republic. Geographically it
is located between 18° 20’ 10’’ and 19° 07’
46’’ north latitude and 98° 37’ 43’’ west
longitude. Politically it is divided in 33
municipalities embracing a total surface
area of 4 980 km2, which represents 0.25% of
the surface of the national territory. The
main climate type in Morelos is A, warm
humid and subhumid; other climate types
are: medium-hot A(C), cold humid E(T);
moderate-humid and subhumid C and
medium-dry BS. The main types of primary
vegetation present are: Abies forest, cloud
forest, Pinus forest, Juniperus forest, PinusQuercus forest, Quercus forest, tropical
deciduous forest, subtropical scrub, dryland
scrub, alpine grassland, aquatic vegetation
and gallery forest; also, secondary
vegetation is located in various localities
throughout the state due to human activities.
The main objective of this paper is to report
on those species of plants from Morelos that
have potential ornamental use.
A listing of 179 species belonging to 77
families and 134 genera is presented.
The families with the greatest number of
species were: Compositae with 30,
Leguminosae with 18 and Labiatae and
Burseraceae with 6 each. To vouch for the
presence of the different species in the
study area, specimens in the herbaria HUMO
and ENCB were verified physically; also,
electronic reports (database CONABIORemib) in the herbaria IEB, XAL, UAMIZ,
TEX and MEXU were consulted. Four
ornamental values that each species
could have were established: flower or
inflorescence, fruit or infrutescence, form
and structure of the plant (architecture) and
leaves or foliage. The list discloses 90
species that are used especially owing to
the flower or inflorescence, none for the fruit
or infructescence, one exclusively because
of the architecture, 17 only for the leaves
and 71 in the context of ornamental value.