Echites yucatanensis
| Echites yucatanensis | |
|---|---|
| Echites yucatanensis leaves & flowers | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Apocynaceae |
| Genus: | Echites |
| Species: | E. yucatanensis
|
| Binomial name | |
| Echites yucatanensis | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Echites yucatanensis, with no commonly accepted English name, is a neotropical climbing species of flowering plant belonging to the family Apocynaceae.[1]
Description
Echites yucatanensis displays these key features:[2]
- Climbing stems usually are woody at their bases but herbaceous at their tips.
- Leaves have egg-shaped to violin-shaped blades up to 12 cm long and 7 cm wide (~4¾ by 3¾ inches) and are of modestly thick, almost leathery texture. Blade tips are pointed.
- Inflorescences arise on peduncles up to 3 cm long (1⅕ inches), are produced along stem lengths, and comprise 3-10 flowers.
- Flower sepals are narrowly triangular and up to 7 mm long (~¼ inch). The white corollas consist of a narrow tube that abruptly expands in a flat-spreading top part (salverform), up to 10.2 cm long. Stamens are inserted at the tube's middle. There are two ovaries, fused at their styles, and nectaries surrounding the ovaries' bases are fused into cups whose rims may be notched by varying degrees.
- Follicle-type fruits are up to 29 cm long (~11⅖ inches). Seeds up to 22 mm long (~⅘ inch) are topped by tufts of hairs up to 3 cm long (~1⅕ inches).
Distribution
Echites yucatanensis occurs from southern Mexico south into Nicaragua.[1][3][4].
An alternative distribution concept
Based on leaf shape, corolla tube length, nectary configuration, and accepting Echites turriger as a species distinct from Echites yucatanensis, sometimes Echites yucatanensis is regarded as endemic just to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.[5]
Habitat
In Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Echites yucatanensis is documented from various kinds of Yucatán dry forest types with extended dry seasons, and among coastal dunes and scrubland behind them.[6]
In traditional medicine
In Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula Echites yucatanensis is used for bites of venomous snakes, specifically for the terciopelo or cuatro narices, Bothrops asper, and the rattlesnake Crotalus tzabcan.[7] The plant's uncooked underground parts are macerated and combined with lemon juice and ice.[8] Mayan healers in Yucatan also use extracts of the plant for healing wounds and treating warts.[9]
Taxonomy
The name Echites yucatanensis was first proposed or informally described by Charles Frederick Millspaugh, but that work was not deemed to meet the requirements for valid publication. The name was validly named and described by Paul Carpenter Standley in 1930 with the resulting authorship designated at "Millsp. Ex Standl."[1]
Standley's type specimen had been collected by George Franklin Gaumer, his #1979, from Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.[10]
Etymology
The genus name Echites is based on the Greek echis, which means "viper," and ites, meaning "of the nature of," alluding to the twining habit and deleterious quality of the genus's species.[11]
The species name yucatanensis refers to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. In 1930 when Standley formally described and published the taxon, the specimens he had available all were from the Peninsula.[10]
References
- ^ a b c "Echites yucatanensis Millsp. ex Standl". Plants of the World Online. United Kingdom: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
- ^ Williams, Justin K. (October–December 2002). "A further evaluation of Echites sect. Yucatanense (Apocynaceae) with additional notes on the genus". Brittonia. 54 (4): 310–317. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
- ^ "Echites yucatanensis Millsp. ex Standl". catalogueoflife.org. Catalogue of Life. February 13, 2026. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
- ^ Villaseñor, José Luis (August 4, 2016). "Checklist of the native vascular plants of Mexico". Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad. 87. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
- ^ Fernández-Concha, Germán Carnevali; De Stefano, Rodrigo Duno; Tapia Muñoz, José Luis (May 20, 2021). "Una breve pesquisa sobre Echites yucatanensis (Apocynaceae). To be, or not to be {endemic and one}, that is the question" (PDF). Desde el Herbario CICY (in Spanish). Mérida, Yucatán, México: Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, A.C. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
- ^ "Taxón: Echites yucatanensis Millsp. ex Standl". Flora de la Península de Yucatán. Mérida, Yucatán, México: Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, A.C. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
- ^ Tuz Canche, Marbella; Aguillar Cordero, Wilian; Cruz Blanco, Viktor (2022). "Plantas alexitéricas como antídotos en un Área de Protección de Flora y Fauna en México". unicen.edu.ar (in English and Spanish). CINEA Latinoamérica (Revista Internacional). doi:10.47069/estudios-ambientales.v2i2.1578. ISSN 2347-0941. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
- ^ "Biperol". Biblioteca Digital de la Medicina Tradicional Mexicana (in Spanish). Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM). Retrieved March 16, 2026.
- ^ Vera-Ku, Blanca Marina; Mena-Reynoso, Martha; Alpuche-Aguilar, Diego; et al. (March 2015). "Leishmanicidal, Cytotoxic and Antifungal Activity of Medicinal Plants Used Against Cutaneous Diseases in Mayan Traditional Medicine" (PDF). International Journal of Indigenous Medicinal Plants. 48 (1). Recent Science: 1793–1802. ISSN 2051-4263.
- ^ a b Standley, Paul C. (July 9, 1930). "Studies of American Plants - III". Publications of Field Museum of Natural History:. Botanical Series. Vol. 8. Chicago, IL, USA: Field Museum Press. p. 35.
- ^ Lemke, David E. "Echites P. Browne,. In Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA)". St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA, USA: New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press via eFloras.org. p. 143. Retrieved March 17, 2026.