La familia Scrophulariaceae en México: diversidad y distribución

The Scrophulariaceae family shows a cosmopolitan distribution; it contains about 3 000 species, distributed in about 220 genera, 18 tribes and two subfamilies. In Mexico the family is represented by 446 species (plus 45 subspecific taxa), distributed in 63 genera and 12 tribes in both subfamilies. By the number of species, the family occupies the eleventh place among the Mexican flowering plants families. Members of Scrophulariaceae occur in all the 32 Mexican states; those with the larger richness are Veracruz ( 42 genera and 117 species), Chiapas (37 and 96) and Oaxaca (36 and 108). Durango (89 species) and Baja California (80 species) outstand also among the states with a large species richness. Five genera and 238 species (plus 15 subspecific taxa) are endemic to Mexico; in addition five other genera have their main center of diversification in the country. In addition, 15 species represent introduced, naturalized taxa. Details on the taxonomic and natural history of the family as well as the state diversity and geographical patterns are discussed.