Little is known about the Peruvian members of the Pacific coastal endemic Malesherbia due to their rarity and the inaccessibility of many species. Enzyme electrophoresis was employed to examine allozyme diversities for one population of M. splendens and two of M. tubulosa, both endemics of the department of Lima, one population of M. weberbaueri var. weberbaueri, an endemic of the Andean department Huancavélica, and the two Limeño populations of M. scarlatiflora. These species are closely related and probably recently derived in the family. Fifteen loci were examined for all populations and an additional seven loci were resolved for M. weberbaueri and M. splendens. Mean number of alleles per locus (A), proportion polymorphic loci (P), and expected heterozygosity (Hs) are low for M. scarlatiflora (A = 1.36, P = 0.273, Ht = 0.083), which is heavily collected for the herbal medicine trade, and for M. splendens (A = 1.21, P = 0.214, Hs = 0.057) and M. weberbaueri (A = 1.23, P = 0.154, Hs = 0.079), which are both known from three or fewer populations. In M. tubulosa, Ht and P are somewhat low in comparison to other endemics, but the mean number of alleles is comparable (A = 1.82, P = 0.364, Ht = 0.206). Malesherbia tubulosa seems to experience little interpopulational gene flow (Nm = 0.294), while gene flow between populations of M. scarlatiflora appears to be much higher (Nm = 3.59). The low allozyme diversities and restricted habitats of M. splendens and M. weberbaueri suggest that they are the results of recent founder events, while M. scarlatiflora may be in danger of local extirpation due to overcollection. Greater allozyme diversities in M. tubulosa could be attributable to its maintenance of larger populations in a greater variety of habitats.

Key words: allozyme, diversity, Malesherbia, Malesherbiaceae, Pacific coastal desert, Peru