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Genus Maripa in Family Convolvulaceae

In botanical taxonomy, a genus (plural genera) is a rank used to group closely related species within a family. In the hierarchy, genus sits below family and above species.

Genera are defined by shared morphological, anatomical, and genetic characteristics (for example, features of flowers, fruits, seeds, or leaves) that indicate a close evolutionary relationship among the species they contain.

Each genus can include one or more species. Examples include Rosa (roses) and Solanum (nightshades, including tomato and eggplant).

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Genus Description

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Maripa (Convolvulaceae) comprises approximately thirty species of woody climbers and lianas, with M. scandens Aubl. as the type species, and is distributed across the Guiana Shield and Amazon Basin from sea level to about 1000 meters in lowland rainforests and gallery forests. The genus is defined by a twining, often robust habit; simple, typically entire leaves with entire margins and conspicuous interpetiolar stipules; inflorescences that are large panicles or thyrses borne in leaf axils or at the nodes; and flowers with a five-lobed, plicate corolla, five sepals, five stamens, and a superior, bicarpellate ovary with a single, pendulous ovule per carpel developing into a fleshy drupe that may bear a seed with mucilaginous testa upon germination. The ovary structure and fruit type reliably differentiate Maripa from most Convolvulaceae with capitate or monocarpellate ovaries and dry schizocarps.

Species richness is concentrated in the Guianas, southern Venezuela, and northern Brazil, with several taxa narrowly endemic to tepui and terra firme habitats and others extending into the central Amazon and the Cerrado–Amazon transition. Collections show peak diversity in lowland terra firme and swamp forests, with occasional records from secondary growth. Little is known of the biology of most species; based on flower form and scent, nocturnal pollination by hawkmoths has been inferred for some taxa, but this requires confirmation. Fruits are consumed by birds and mammals and are likely dispersed by them. The base chromosome number remains unreported in recent publications and needs molecular and cytological study.

Taxonomically, Maripa is placed in tribe Merremieae, closely allied to smaller genera such as Lysiostyles and partially overlapping with Wilsonia in contemporary analyses; the group resolves within the Convolvulaceae clade dominated by the New World tribe (Staples et al., 2005). Choisy (1828) and Hallier (1893) offered early sectional arrangements, but formal subgeneric classification has largely fallen out of use, and current treatments treat Maripa in broad circumscription. Species limits have been revised in regional works, including splits in M. paniculata sensu lato, and several names long associated with Maripa have been reassessed or synonymized (O'Donnell, 1959; Staples et al., 2005; Govaerts et al., 2001). Accepted names and distribution data are stabilized through recent monographs and global checklists (POWO, 2024; WFO, 2024; GBIF, 2024), although minor discrepancies in species counts remain.

Few Maripa species are widely cultivated, though some are occasionally used locally as ornamental climbers; none are major crop or timber species and none are significant weeds. Fieldwork and herbarium studies highlight persistent knowledge gaps—particularly in life history, pollinators, and chromosome numbers—complicating refined infrageneric classification. Improved phylogenetic sampling, targeted fieldwork in undercollected regions, and integrative taxonomy will be needed to resolve remaining uncertainties.

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