Searching for Caribbean endemic frangipanis in Puerto Rico

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

In December, Sofia Ocampo (FIU-Fairchild Undergrad) accompanied Nichole Tiernan, (FIU-Fairchild PhD candidate), to Puerto Rico for a field collections trip. Sofia has been working as an intern with Nichole on her dissertation research, studying the breeding system of the charismatic genus Plumeria, commonly known as frangipani, for several years (TTG Vol. 74, No. 2). They both received funding from the Kelly Tropical Botany Award along with some additional funding from the Southern California Plumeria Society, to target two species of Plumeria found on the island: Plumeria alba and Plumeria krugii. They were hosted by Prof. Eugenio Santiago-Valentín, faculty at Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico (Río Piedras) and Curator of the Herbarium of the Botanic Garden of San Juan de Puerto Rico. They were also accompanied in the field by botanist, Mr. Jose Sustache of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources in Puerto Rico. The group visited the subtropical dry forest of Guánica and coastal habitats along the coast, looking for Plumeria alba, a species with long elongate leaves that thrives on limestone soils. This species is found on other islands in the Lesser Antilles and is more widespread than the other species, Plumeria krugii that they were targeting. Plumeria krugii is endemic to the serpentine soil of the area of Maricao State Forest and isn’t found growing anywhere else. This soil is very high in heavy metals and thus has a large number of species adapted to grow in this habitat. On the last day of the trip, the group toured El Yunque National Forest, the only tropical rainforest in the national park system.

Photo Caption: From left to right: Sofia Ocampo, Nichole Tiernan, Dr. Eugenio Santiago-Valentín in Maricao State Forest.