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Tree species which sprouted from root buds were identified in a 3.6ha area of a Semideciduous Seasonal Forest fragment in Campinas, São Paulo State (22° 55' S and 47° 05' W)

The genus Celtis L. (Cannabaceae) comprises around 73 species distributed in temperate and tropical regions of both hemispheres. Most South American species belong to the subgenus Mertensia Planch., and they are characterized by showing high morphological plasticity. A recent taxonomic revision of this group was carried out with an excessively reductionist criterion regarding the number of accepted species and that does not clearly reflect the morphological differences among them. In order to contribute to the correct delimitation of the specific entities, a morpho-descriptive approach is presented for ten taxa of the genus Celtis (C. brasiliensis, C. chichape, C. clausseniana, C. fluminensis, C. pallida var. pallida, C pallida var. discolor, C. serratissima, C. spinosa, C. spinosissima and C. tala) growing in South American Southern Cone. The morphology was analyzed through the use of a stereomicroscope and/or the tpsDig program for digital images of specimens. As a result, a key is provided for the determination of the aforementioned species and a detailed morphological description of the vegetative (habit, bark, branches, spines, brachyblasts, indumentum and leaves) and reproductive structures (inflorescences, flowers, fruits and endocarp -pyrene-). In addition, a specimen collection guide is proposed with a list of the main morphological characters that should be observed in the field, to facilitate future identifications.

Casearia sylvestris is an outstanding representative of the Casearia genus. This representability comes from its distinctive chemical profile and pharmacological properties. This species is widespread from North to South America, occurring in all Brazilian biomes. Based on their morphology, 2 varieties are recognized: C. sylvestris var. sylvestris and C. sylvestris var. lingua. Despite the existence of data about their chemical composition, a deeper understanding of the specialized metabolism correlation and variation in respect to environmental factors and its repercussion over their biological activities was still pending. In this study, an UHPLC-DAD-based metabolomics approach was employed for the investigation of the chemical variation of 12 C. sylvestris populations sampled across 4 Brazilian biomes and ecotones. The correlation between infraspecific chemical variability and the cytotoxic and antioxidant activities was achieved by multivariate data analysis. The analyses showed that C. sylvestris var. lingua prevailed at Cerrado areas, and it was correlated with lower cytotoxic activity and high level of glycosylated flavonoids. Among them, narcissin and isorhamnetin-3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-α-L-arabinopyranoside showed good correlation with the antioxidant activity. Conversely, C. sylvestris var. sylvestris prevailed at the Atlantic Forest areas, and it was associated with high cytotoxic activity and high content of clerodane diterpenoids. Different casearins showed good correlation (R2  = 0.3 – 0.70) with the cytotoxic activity. These findings highlighted the great complexity among different C. sylvestris populations, their chemical profile, and the related biological activities. Consequently, it can certainly influence the medicinal properties, as well as the quality and efficacy, of C. sylvestris phytomedicines.

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