Ecología y explotación de las Dioscoreáceas en El Salvador, C. A.

Abstract

The main objective of this work was to make a census of the different Dioscoreaceae species of commercial value which are part of the salvadorean flora. A sinecological analysis and a study of their distribution is also being carried out. For sampling purposes, the country was divided into three zones: one along the coastal side, a central area, and one along the Honduran border. Several species were found, and three of them have been identified, out of which two have commercial value because of their steroid content (Dioscorea floribunda Martz., and Gal., y Dioscorea mexicana Guillemin). They are widely distributed in the coastal and central zones at 300-700 meters above sea level, mainly along river sides, associated with Bactris balanoidea (Oerst) Wendl., and Randia armata (Swartz), D.C. In the central zone, specially an rock substrates, it was most frecuently associated with Curatella americana L. An irrational exploitation of the commercial species by national and foreign has been detected. The same type of explotation has been prevented in Mexico, which accounts for the increasing explotation of these species in Central American countries. These plants were successfuly grown experimentally using rhizome sections.