Abstract

MORALES, Carlos O.. Origin, natural history, and uses of introduced plants in Costa Rica. Cuadernos de Investigación UNED [online]. 2020, vol.12, n.2, pp.274-399. ISSN 1659-4266.  http://dx.doi.org/10.22458/urj.v12i2.3098.

Introduction: Some introduced plant species changed Costa Rican history since the sixteenth century. Of those, many have become our most socio-economically and environmentally influential crop species, others became naturalized and some turned invasive, and in recent years new species are still being intentionally or unintentionally introduced. Objective: The aim of this work was to register as many as possible of the known alien species of seed plants in Costa Rica, to establish their origin, adding natural history data, and uses in this country. Results: There are 144 families, 623 genera and ca. 982 species according to this study. The 29 most diverse families (each one with 10 or more species) comprehend 60% of genera and 62% of alien plant species in this country, but these families represent only 20% of the total number of families with alien genera and species in Costa Rica, whereas 57% of all such families have fewer than 5 introduced species each. Fabaceae in a broad sense not only possesses the greatest numbers of genera (46) and species (70), but also it almost duplicates the figures of the second family Poaceae (with 27 and 39, respectively), meanwhile this last family has the same number of alien species as the third one Lamiaceae. Discussion: Six of the most diverse families of the Costa Rican native flora (Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Orchidaceae, Poaceae, and Rubiaceae) are at the same time groups with many alien, cultivated and naturalized species in this country, but the most diverse native family, Orchidaceae is number 27 in part due to the troublesome quantification of hybrids.

Keywords : seed plants; introduced species; ornamental plants; useful plants; invasive species; alien species.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )