Morphologic characterization of Butia microspadix Burret (Arecaceae) phitoliths

Abstract

Phytoliths are micrometric bodies of opal, which was deposited between the cells of plant tissues in some species of the Plantae Kingdom. These precipitations are more abundant in the family Poaceae, but it’s significant in other plant families, as Arecaceae, for example. The morphological description of the phytoliths Butia microspadix Burret’s (Butiazinho-do-campo) is important to aid in paleoenvironmental reconstructions of Campos Gerais, Paraná, Brasil. Globular echinate was the predominant morphology , with about 99% of observations. The measurement of the morphology diameters indicated variation, however, the mean of these values was about 5.5 ?m, for all structures analyzed.