Ronnbergia carvalhoi Martinelli & Leme[as Ronnbergia carvalhoi Martinelli & Leme]

Diagnose: —A omnibus speciebus adhuc cognitis inflorescentia subcapitata, bracteis floriferis sepalis superantibus, sepalis 10 mm longis, perasymmetricis et mucronatis differt.

Observations: —This new species does not present clear affinity with any of the known species of the genus Ronnbergia E. Morren & Andre typical of Central America and surroundings. It looks somewhat like R. petersii L.B. Smith because its leaves are not narrowed above the base and because of the short scape and dense inflorescence. In details, however, it is very different from the species mentioned. It is interesting to add that the Ronnbergia carvalhoi (referring to its floral parts) also does not show any affinity with the only representative of the Ronnbergia known in Brazil, that is the R. brasiliensis Pereira & Penna. The R. brasiliensis, in turn, is sort of similar to R. columbiana E. Morren, but differs, according to its authors, because the leaf-blade is entire and slightly narrowed at base, and in the size of the sepals and petals. Another difference is that the stamens of the second series are highly adnate to the petals.
Ronnbergia carvalhoi and R. brasiliensis appear in floristically similar areas in the State of Bahia, which once again shows the parallelism among the flora of the regions of the Brazilian northeast near the Atlantic coast and the north of the South American continent.

Edited from : Martinelli & Leme 1987b. (protologue) Ronnbergia carvalhoi .