15.1- 9.1

Alcantarea pataxoana Versieux

Publ: Systematic Botany 37(3): 636–640 (2012)

Type: BRAZIL. Bahia: Mun. Porto Seguro, Parque Nacional do Monte Pascoal, alto do monte Pascoal, 536 m, 18 May 1999, G. Martinelli & T. Barbará 15475 (living plant only for cultivation). Bloomed in cultivation in the Rio de Janeiro Botanic Garden inside the ’Burle Marx’ Greenhouse under the number RBvb 65, 18 Mar 2011, N. Vasconcellos 221 (holotype: RB; isotype: UFRN).

Search images on Permanent URL

Distribution: BRAZIL: Bahia

Habitat: It grows forming dense heliophylous populations on patches of exposed granite rock in the Atlantic forest, ca. 536 m. Elev.

Etymology: The epithet chosen is a reference to the native indians (Pataxó s) that still survive in this area and that were the first to get in contact with europeans, following the discovery of Brazil by Pedro A ́ lvares Cabral, in 1500. These Native Americans have been brutally massacred as well as reduced in number and lost most of their territory. Brazilian indians numbered more than five million at the time of the colonization, but have been progressively reduced to less than 400,000 (Ribeiro 1995).

Phenology: It was flowering in cultivation in March- April.

Alcantarea pataxoana