Abstract—Microlicieae is a Neotropical tribe of Melastomataceae, and most of its species are endemic to Brazil, especially in campo rupestre sites. The campo rupestre ecosystem occurs in areas with shallow soils deficient in water and nutrients, and elevations above
900 m. Foliar characters provide important structural features which are of taxonomic value for Melastomataceae. Due to the high degree of endemism, taxonomic issues, and variety of water economy strategies found in Melastomataceae, our objective was to evaluate the leaf structure in 25 species
of Microlicieae, aiming to identify potentially taxonomically informative characters which may have favored the radiation and diversification of this tribe. According to our results, Lavoisiera seems to be homogeneous regarding leaf characters, while Microlicia and Trembleya
are highly variable in leaf size and general structure of veins and mesophyll. The leaf xeromorphism was presumably a relevant factor in the diversification of this tribe. Rhynchantera exhibited mesomorphic leaf characters, suggesting that the emergence of these features occurred after
the divergence of this group from the rest of the clade.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), which permits reproduction, adaptation, and distribution provided the original author and source are credited. Anatomia e germinação de diásporos de Chrysolaena cognata (Less.) Dematt. (Asteraceae) Anatomy and germination of diaspores of Chrysolaena cognata (Less.
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