Abstract:
Since 1961 a series of field biologists and field ecology courses have used the lowlands
of Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica, as a natural laboratory. With the firm establishment
of Santa Rosa National Park and various other protected areas (Palo
Verde National Park, Cabo Blanco National Park, Finca La Pacifica, Monteverde
Reserve, Rinc6n National Park), and with a growing enlightenment of the Guanacaste
populace, we anticipate much further use of the Guanacaste lowlands by
biologists. Almost all of these studies will use plant names. There has been considerable
ambiguity in past use and determinations of plant names for this area. We
would like to aid in avoiding further situations such as the recent exemplary study
of the ecology of Stemmadenia donell-smithii (Rose) Woodson (McDiarmid, Ricklefs
and Foster 1977, Biotropica 9:9-25), a rare local plant in Guanacaste, where most
readers thought they were reading about the widespread common Stemmadenia
obovata (Hook. and Arn.) K. Schum. which has been consistently misidentified as
S. donell-smithii by biologists working in Guanacaste.
