Methods

The checklist was put together after an intensive revision of the literature and from collections located in herbaria of the United States, Germany, and of course, Puerto Rico. At least 781 of the 1,181 species in this account should be considered well known and documented for the island. The other 400 species are names reported for the island too, but that I consider will need further revision.

The list is in alphabetical order according to the genus. The next version of the list (to be available soon) will be in alphabetical order following both the genus and species. Species names and authorities where corroborated using http://www.indexfungorum.org. Following each species name, I provide information justifying the inclusion of each of them in the list. Information from herbarium databases is given in the following order: the herbarium acronym (in parenthesis), followed by the collector’s name and number. Example: (B) H. Sipman 26028g. Taxa that have changed name after their original report are designated with their current valid name, and previously used names are stated further on the entry.

The checklist is divided in three sections. In Section 1, I mention the species that are well known and documented to occur in the Island. This section consists almost entirely of the species mentioned in the work of Harris (1989). Additional species mentioned in recent publications were also included in this section. Section 2 consists of a list of species based on the genus and collection numbers that are mentioned in Harris (1989) and that are in need of further determination. The collection numbers in this section correspond to specimens held at the New York Botanical Garden herbarium. Species from both Sections 1 and 2 were used for the final number of 781 species. Section 3 contains the species that are in need of revision. I do not feel confident of including these species in the final number, mostly because they were mentioned in very old publications, and also because part of them came from information of herbaria that hold specimens from Puerto Rico, but have not revised the material almost since their inclusion in the collection.

Acronyms for consulted herbaria:

MICH – University of Michigan

UPR – University of Puerto Rico Botanical Garden

MAPR – University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

MSC – Michigan State University

NY – New York Botanical Garden

MIN – University of Minnesota

B – Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem

ASU – Arizona State University

SBBG – Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

OMA  – University of Nebraska, Omaha

Legend to the notations used in the checklist:

- Asterisks ( “*” ) denote species endemic to the Puerto Rico.

-Species within quotation marks (“ …”) are uncertain in terms of their names or their authorities or both.

-Names in italics refer to names previously used for taxa that are recognized at present by a different name.

-“cf.” is short for “confer” meaning “compare with” in the context of systematics/taxonomy.

- “aff.” is short for “affinis” meaning “similar to”.

-“f.” or “fo” means “form”.

-“var.” means “variety”.