Two species of quaresmeiras are discovered in northern Minas Gerais

By Diego Nunes da Silva - ENBT/JBRJ

In the years 2018 and 2021, the National Center for the Conservation of Flora - CNCFlora led two botanical expeditions to the north of Minas Gerais, specifically in the Serra de Montevideo, municipality of Monte Azul, Brazil. Among the many botanical samples brought to the herbarium of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden Research Institute (JBRJ) for further identification, two species of quaresmeiras (genus Pleroma) were collected and identified as new species for science.

"After comparing the collections of Pleroma from the Montevideo Mountain Range with several species of the genus that have similar morphology, we noticed that both were unknown to science and we started to work on the formal description of these species", says Diego Nunes da Silva, PhD student at the National School of Tropical Botany - ENBT/JBRJ.

Diego and researcher Paulo José F. Guimarães (JBRJ), authors of the article, named the species Pleroma congestifolium and P. martinellii. Both are endemic to the Serra de Montevideo, i.e., the species only occur in this region.

Both species were collected by the researcher Gustavo Martinelli, who worked at the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro for about half a century (see the link below to know a little more about his trajectory at the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden). Pleroma martinellii is a tribute of the authors to Dr. Gustavo, one of the greatest collectors of plants of the Brazilian flora.

Both new species were described in an article in the Systematic Botany journal and published on March 28, 2023. The paper also has the collaboration of Mirian de Camargo A. Antonicelli, MSc student at ENBT/JBRJ.

Access the article with the descriptions.
Access also through Researchgate.

Tribute of the 71st CNBot to the researcher Gustavo Martinelli.