Taxonomic characters of the staminal tube and epicalyx in Brazilian Pavonia (Malvaceae)

Esteves, G. L. (Instituto de Botanica, Caixa Postal 4005 CEP 0161-970 Sao P aulo, SP. Brazil, gesteves@smtp-gw.ibot.sp.gov.br). Taxonomic characters of the staminal tube and epicalyx in Brazilian Pavonia (Malvaceae). Brittonia 52. 256-264. 2000.-This study was based on the analysis of staminal tube a nd epicalyx morphology of species of Pavonia (Malvaceae) from northeastern and southeastern Brazil. The importance of characters in the infrageneric t axonomy is discussed. In general, the variability in staminal tube and epic alyx characters are useful mainly in separating closely related species and a few sections; these characters, however, cannot be used to separate subg enera.