No abstract

Erythroxylum riparium, a new species of Erythroxylaceae from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, is described and illustrated. The species was found in southern Bahia State growing along river banks within tropical rain forest fragments. It can be distinguished from other similar species of Erythroxylum by the combination of branchlets intensely dotted with elliptic lenticels, these often united with each other, undulate leaf margin, three bracteoles per flower, and partially connate styles. These diagnostic characters and other observations concerning the new species are presented and compared with those from similar species.

Neste trabalho é apresentado o levantamento florístico de Erythroxylum na Mata Atlântica do estado da Bahia. Todas as informações sobre as espécies foram obtidas através de análise de exsicatas depositadas nos herbários ALCB, CEPEC, HRB, HUEFS, HUESC, MBM, R, RB, SP, SPF e consultas virtuais aos herbários BR, F, NY e K. Foram realizadas expedições em campo, priorizando regiões com poucas coletas, registros de espécies raras e suspeitas de novidades taxonômicas. Foram registradas 28 espécies, sendo E. ectinocalyx um novo registro para a Bahia e E. compressum, E. distortum, E. leal-costae, E. mattos-silvae, E. membranaceum e E. petrae-caballi constantes na lista de espécies da flora brasileira ameaçadas de extinção. São apresentadas descrições, ilustrações, chave de identificação e comentários para todas as espécies estudadas.

Erythroxylum Browne (1756: 278) is the largest genus in Erythroxylaceae Kunth (1821: 175), including 230–240 species (Plowman & Berry 1999, Plowman & Hensold 2004). It is distributed in tropical areas, with its greatest diversity (187 species) in the Neotropics (Plowman & Hensold 2004). The Neotropical species are characterized by intrapetiolar stipules, branchlets usually formed by the compression of cataphylls (brachyblasts), alternate, simple, and glabrous leaves, heterostylous flowers, often arranged in fascicles, and drupes with one pyrene (Plowman & Berry 1999). For Brazil 127 species of Erythroxylum have been recorded, with most of the diversity and endemism in the Atlantic Forest, especially in its northeastern section (Loiola & Costa-Lima 2015).