DANIEL & TRIPP: LOUTERIDIUM : TAXONOMY, BIOLOGY, AND CONSERVATION 61 
Figure 10. Map of southern Mexico (showing states) and northern Central America with distributions of Louteridium 
chartaceum, L. donnell-smithii, and L. purpusii. Symbols may pertain to multiple collections. 
Lloral Ecology and Reproductive Biology 
Richardson (1972) was able to observe only L. tamaulipense in its natural habitat, but he made 
useful observations on that species. One of us (TFD) located five species in Mexico and Central 
America and spent varying amounts of time observing each. Plants of four of these ( L. brevicalyx, 
L. chartaceum, L. dendropilosum, and L. mexicanum) were subsequently cultivated from seeds or 
cuttings in San Francisco, California and studied. By the time of this study, three of them had flow¬ 
ered (. L. chartaceum, L. dendropilosum, and L. mexicanum ), but of these only the latter produced 
sufficient flowers for most observations and manipulations. Plants of L. mexicanum flowered 
profusely within 12 months of planting. The sole plant of L. chartaceum produced only a few large 
flower buds that abscised prior to opening, and the plant subsequently died. Although multiple 
plants of L. brevicalyx and L. dendropilosum have thrived for six years, only a single plant of the 
latter species began producing an inflorescence in April of 2018, which yielded three flowers in 
May and June. The following summaries are based on field observations, plants cultivated in San 
Francisco, information provided by Richardson (1972), and data taken directly from collectors’ 
notes on herbarium specimens. All sources and information specific to the timing of and events 
during anthesis for species observed in nature/cultivation by us or noted by others is provided in 
the phenology sections of the species accounts under Taxonomy below. 
