THE CASE FOR BOROJOA-PATINOI (RUBIACEAE) IN THE CHOCO REGION, COLOMBIA

The economic botany of the tree species Borojoa patinoi is presented a fter consulting all available literature and visiting the region. Boro joa patinoi is a noteworthy species in that it is endemic to the bioge ographic Choco region, its fruits have high market value, and it is an understory tree, which means it can be cultivated without clearing th e overstory trees. This paper reviews the literature on the taxonomy a nd phytogeography of the genus, as well as the production ecology of t he species. Two net present value models are presented to analyze the species economically. From the models, we conclude that in many areas in the Choco, planting B. patinoi trees is likely to be economically m ore competitive than planting commercial timber species. Furthermore, monocultures of B. patinoi may not be the economically optimal product ion system. Besides B. patinoi, some other Choco species with edible f ruits are suggested for further research.