SEXUAL CLASSIFICATION OF LINALOE (Bursera linanoe, Burseraceae) AND PRODUCTIVE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ESSENTIAL OIL, IN THREE NATURAL POPULATIONS IN THE STATE OF GUERRERO, MEXICO

Abstract

Xochicopatl or linaloe (Bursera linanoe, Burseraceae) is a native tree that inhabits the low deciduous forest in México. The extraction of its fruits and felling of large trees, to extract essential oils and handcrafts, is limiting the capacity for regeneration of its populations. Flowering, fructification, diameter and essential oil production were documented in three populations for two years. Single-sex flowers were observed distributed into three sexual types. The females predominated and significantly more female trees than males and monoicous were not found between sites (p=0.8065); dioicous female and male trees were found to be diametrically similar, although the monoicous trees tend to be wider (p=0.0193). During fructification, females showed less variation in the number of fruits produced than the monoicous; however, both sexes showed similar yield of essential oil (p=0.836). The populations in Mezquitlan and Comala in Guerrero, Mexico, were not strictly polygamodioecious, but rather subdioicous. The female and male trees are ideal for production of the fruit essential oil, while the monoicous are ideal for the production of wood and resins.