Intense competition with lianas (woodclimbers) can limit tree growth, reproduction, andsurvival. However, the negative effects of liana loadson tree allometry have not yet been addressed. Weinvestigated the hypothesis that liana loading on treecrown alters tree’s allometry, expressed throughslenderness (height–diameter ratio). The relationshipbetween trunk slenderness and percentage of treecrown covered by lianas was investigated for 12 treespecies from 10 fragments of the SemideciduousSeasonal Forest in Southeastern Brazil. We also testedwhether the relationship between slenderness andwood density differ between trees without lianas andtrees heavily infested. Liana loads significantly alteredtree allometry by decreasing slenderness, even whenlianas covered less than 25% of tree crown. Heavywoodspecies decreased their trunk slenderness in agreater ratio than light-wood species. Our findingsindicate that liana infestation shifts tree allometry, andthese effects are stronger on heavy-wood tree species.

This article visits the history of Brazil-Sweden’s partnership in botany and the contribution of Anders Fredrik Regnell and other botanical collectors to the knowledge of Brazilian flora. The importance of the herbarium of Stockholm (S) is widely recognized for its collections of Brazilian plants, one of the largest in the world. The majority of the collections from Brazil date from the period between the second half of nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. The main collectors of Brazilian flora from that phase, whose bulk of collections are in Stockholm are Anders Regnell, Gustaf Malme, Per Dusén, Carl Lindman and many others sponsored by the Regnellian fund. The herbarium also houses substantial collections of August Glaziou, a great contributor to the knowledge of the flora of state of Goiás, and Adolf Ducke, pioneer in the taxonomy of Amazonian tree species. The cooperation between Brazil and Sweden is currently being renewed through Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden and the Reflora Program, allowing repatriation of Brazilian specimens housed in Stockholm.