Belize Savanna Factsheet C5

Endemic Species of the Lowland Savanna

An endemic species is a species that is only found in a certain place. A species may be endemic to a country such as Belize, to a region such as Central America or to a district within a country such as Toledo. Endemic is not the same as a rare, some endemic species maybe very common within in their range. However endemic species are often considered priorities for conservation if they have a limited distribution because it means that these species can be very vulnerable to or diseases.

Endemic species are also a reason to be proud; it can be amazing to think that your country is only the country in the world where this grows!

There are 41 plant species listed as endemic to Belize in the current national checklist of vascular (below) by Balick et al. (2000). More recently several other endemic species have been described including several new species of from southern Belize.

Phyllum Family Species Cycadophyta Zamia prasina W. Bull Magnoliophyta Acanthaceae Louteridium chartaceum Leonard Annonaceae Oxandra proctorii Lundell Laubertia gentlei Lundell Apocynaceae Metastelma stenomeres (Standl. & Steyerm.) W.D. Stevens Arecaceae Schippia concolor Burret Ageratum radicans B.L. Rob. Koanophyllon sorensenii R.M. King & H. Rob. Asteraceae Neurolaena schippii B.L. Rob. Telanthophora bartlettii H. Rob. & Brettell Crossopetalum gentlei (Lundell) Lundell Celastraceae Zinowiewia pallida Lundell Dioscoreaceae Dioscorea bartlettii C.V. Morton Paepalanthus belizensis Moldenke Paepalanthus gentlei Moldenke Syngonanthus bartlettii Moldenke Eriocaulaceae Syngonanthus hondurensis Moldenke Syngonanthus lundellianus Moldenke Syngonanthus oneillii Moldenke Dalechampia schippii Standl. Euphorbiaceae Gymnanthes belizensis G.L. Webster Galactia anomala Lundell Fabaceae Mimosa pinetorum Standl. Pithecellobium peckii S.F. Blake Hypericaceae Hypericum aphyllum Lundell

Conservation of the Lowland Savanna Ecosystem: Belize www.eeo.ed.ac.uk/sea-belize Lamiaceae Scutellaria lundellii Epling Melastomataceae Miconia ochroleuca Standl. Moraceae Dorstenia belizensis C.C. Berg Calyptranthes bartlettii Standl. Calyptranthes cuneifolia Lundell Myrtaceae Eugenia rufidula Lundell Plinia peroblata (Lundell) Lundell Nyctaginaceae Pisonia proctorii Lundell Passifloraceae Passiflora urbaniana Killip Piperaceae Piper schippianum Trel. & Standl. Axonopus ciliatifolius Swallen Poaceae Paspalum peckii F.T. Hubb. Polygonaceae Coccoloba lundellii Standl. Rutaceae Amyris rhomboidea Standl. Anemiaceae Anemia bartlettii Mickel Polypodiopsida Thelypteridaceae Thelypteris schippii (Weath.) A.R. Sm.

Many of Belize’s endemic plant species are only found in the savanna. Some of these species such as Passiflora urbaniana Killip (Grandpa’s Ball, above) or Dalechampia schippii Standl. (left) have very distinctive and beautiful flowers. Endemic species such as these are well known, easy to identify and easy to spot.

There are many endemic species about which not much is known. For example there are six species of a family related to grasses called Eriocaulaceae that are endemic to Belizean savannas; each is known only from a few collections. This may be because these plants are small and obscure, rarely up to 10 cm tall, and because the plants are ephemeral (they only appear for a brief few months each year when conditions are right). Several species which are endemic to Belize such as Hypericum aphyllum Lundell and Syngonanthus oneillii Moldenke have not been recorded for over 40 years! We can use location information from herbarium specimens of these species to work out where these species should occur and lots of careful searching in the field to find out if these species are still present.

References:

BALICK, M. J., et al. (2000). Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Belize. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 85: 1–246.

CALONJE, M. (2009). A new cliff-dwelling species of Zamia (Zamiaceae) from Belize. Journal of Botanical Research Institute Texas 3(1): 23-29.

CALONJE, M., et al. (2009). A New Species Of Zamia (Zamiaceae) From The Maya Mountains Of Belize. Journal of Botanical Research Institute Texas 3(1): 31-41.

GOODWIN, Z. A., et al. (In Press). A checklist of the vascular plants of the lowland savannas and associated wetlands of Belize, Central America. Phytotaxa .

MEERMAN, J. C. (1996). Vegetative Key to the Passionflowers of Belize. Passiflora 6(3): 25–28.

SANO, P.T. et al. (2011) Neotropical Eriocaulaceae, Neotropikey.

Conservation of the Lowland Savanna Ecosystem: Belize www.eeo.ed.ac.uk/sea-belize