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.

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ResumoEste estudo apresenta o inventário florístico atualizado para Rubiaceae no Parque Estadual de Mata das Flores (PEMF), município de Castelo, no Espírito Santo. O remanescente florestal estudado está localizado em uma das áreas prioritárias para conservação da Floresta Atlântica ao sul do estado. A listagem elaborada embasou a análise da similaridade florística de Rubiaceae no fragmento estudado com outras 17 áreas de Floresta Atlântica, por meio de análise de agrupamentos e métodos de ordenação. Foram identificadas 45 espécies e duas subespécies, pertencentes a 20 gêneros. Psychotria (8 spp.) foi o gênero mais representativo, seguido de Faramea (6 spp.) e Rudgea (4 spp. AbstractThis study presents the updated floristic inventory of the family Rubiaceae in Mata das Flores State park (MFSP), Castelo, Espírito Santo. The studied forest remnant is located in one of the priority areas for Atlantic Forest conservation on the southern portion of the state. The list gave support to the analysis of floristic similarity between the studied fragment and 17 other areas of the Atlantic Forest, using cluster analysis and ordination methods. A total of 45 species and two subspecies were identified. They belong to 20 genera. Psychotria (8 spp.) was the most representative genus, followed by Faramea (6 spp.) and Rudgea (4 spp.). Four taxa are new species to science. Four taxa are listed in different threat categories. Cluster and ordination analysis revealed that Mata das Flores is distinct from the other areas in the Atlantic Forest. The results point to the Mata das Flores State Park as an important center of diversity for Rubiaceae in Espirito Santo.

The Atlantic Forest is one of the most threatened biomes in the world. Despite that, this biome still includes many areas that are poorly known floristically, including several protected areas, such as the "Floresta Nacional do Rio Preto" ("Flona do Rio Preto"), located in the Brazilian State of Espírito Santo. This study used a published vascular plant species list for this protected area from the "Catálogo de Plantas das Unidades de Conservação do Brasil" as the basis to synthesise the species richness, endemism, conservation and new species occurrences found in the "Flona do Rio Preto". The published list of vascular plants was based on field expeditions conducted between 2018 and 2020 and data obtained from herbarium collections available in online databases. Overall, 722 species were documented for the "Flona do Rio Preto", 711 of which are native to Brazil and 349 are endemic to the Atlantic Forest. In addition, 60 species are geographically disjunct between the Atlantic and the Amazon Forests. Most of the documented species are woody and more than 50% of these are trees. Twenty-three species are threatened (CR, EN and VU), while five are Data Deficient (DD). Thirty-two species are new records for the State of Espírito Santo. Our results expand the knowledge of the flora of the Atlantic Forest and provide support for the development of new conservation policies for this protected area.

Two new species of Rudgea (Rubiaceae), R. quisquiliae and R. axilliflora, from Southeastern Brazil present true axillary inflorescences, a very distinct characteristic in the genus. Rudgea was previously characterized by the presence of usually terminal inflorescences, with pseudo-axillary inflorescences occurring in a single species, R. stipulacea. Rudgea quisquiliae is morphologically distinct within the genus by the combination of its large leaf-blades (15–33.5 × 7.5–15 cm), and axillary inflorescences. Rudgea axilliflora can be distinguished by its sheathing stipules with dorsal, glandular appendages, medium-sized leaf-blades (7–11 x 2.5–4 cm), lanceolate to elliptic, with 7–9 pairs of secondary veins, absence of domatia, axillary inflorescences and flowers with a distinctly lobed calyx. The new species were discovered in ombrophilous rainforest remnants in the south of Espírito Santo, one of the most diverse states in the Atlantic Forest biome.