The shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora.
Asteraceae is the family with the highest species number in the rocky fields (campos rupestres) of the Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil. On the basis of several collections from this area, we are proposing a new genus of Asteraceae based on morphology and phylogeny, to accommodate a species newly described here. Lapidia apicifolia is a loosely ramified shrub 2–4 m high, stem tomentose, leaves opposite-decussate, laminae conduplicate, petiolate, receptacle flat, epaleaceous, glabrous, and pappus of bristles fused at base, irregular in length, fringed and purplish. In a phylogenetic analysis using sequence data from ITS and trnL-trnF of selected members of Eupatorieae, Lapidia is indicated as sister group of a highly supported clade with Morithamnus, Bahianthus and Catolesia. This group is composed by loosely branched shrubs, most with leaves that are lax, stems, leaves and involucral bracts that are viscid (Bahianthus and Morithamnus) and, if not, trichomes (tomentose indumentum) are developed (Lapidia), to protect against both solar radiation and loss of water. A description, illustrations, and a discussion about related and sympatric genera are presented.
Some plant species allow the cutting of the apical meristem in order to assist activities of genetic improvement programs, among them is the soybean. The objective was to verify if the removal of the apical meristem of soybean plants induces any alteration in the stem anatomy, since it was verified that the removal of the apical meristem reduces the need for tutoring of the plants cultivated under greenhouse conditions. The experiment was conducted with plants of the BRSMG 752S cultivar and the treatments consisted of sections of the hypocotyl region of plants that had undergone apical meristem removal at the V2 development stage and of plants without apical meristem removal. The permanent slides were processed following the usual methodologies in plant anatomy. Descriptions and measurements of anatomical tissues were made for comparison between treatments. Plants with removal presented epidermis as a covering tissue until 20 days after the V2 development stage, while plants without removal of the apical meristem presented it until 30 days after V2. Periderm was observed only in plants with removal, and this feature was not evident in plants without removal until 30 days after V2. There was formation of secondary vascular tissues in the collections 30 days after removal (V2 stage). Thus, we conclude that the removal of the apical meristem accelerates the secondary development in hypocotyls of soybean plants grown under greenhouse conditions.
Morphological characters of soybean can be influenced by shading which are occasionally caused in plants. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of different shading levels on epicotyl length, epicotyl diameter and height of soybean plants. The experiments were conducted in a greenhouse. When the plants reached the V2 development stage, measurements were taken of epicotyl length and epicotyl diameter in experiment I (conducted in autumn); and epicotyl length, epicotyl diameter, and plant height in experiments II (spring/summer) and III (summer). Each experiments were conducted in a randomized block design, in subdivided plots, with four repetitions. The plots were composed of four shading levels and the subplots were composed of eight conventional cultivars. Each experimental unit consisted of one plant grown in a 3 dm³ pot filled with soil and organic matter. The three characters evaluated in the experiment presented significant effect for the interaction cultivar x shading x sowing seasons. Epicotyl length, independent of the sowing season, increased as the shading level intensified. Both the shading level and the sowing season influenced the diameter of the epicotyl, in a general way, reducing the diameter as the shading level increased. With increasing shading rate there was an increase in plant height. Moreover, the cultivars formed statistically distinct groups for the three morphological characters evaluated.
Eupatorieae (Asteraceae) is the largest tribe of the Phytomelanic Fruit Clade, mostly restricted to the western hemisphere. Phylogenetic studies in Eupatorieae recovered some clades endemic to the Brazilian rocky fields. In one of these clades Catolesia is composed up to now by only two species, C. mentiens and C. huperzioides and it is distinguished by characters such as sessile leaves, capitulescence or heads surrounded by leafy-bracts, convex to conical, paleaceous receptacle, and pappus absent. In this study, we propose a new species of Catolesia, C. monocephala, characterized by the pedunculate and solitary capitula at the apex of the branches, aciculate leaf laminae, conical, paleaceous receptacle, paleae 60–70, spatulate, apex acute, and 60–100 flowers per head. The new species is endemic to the rocky fields vegetation from Esbarrancado mountain in the Mucugê and Palmeira municipalities, in Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil.
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