List of Rubiaceae in Brazil

BARBOZA M.R.; ZAPPI D.; TAYLOR C.; CABRAL, E.L.; JARDIM J.G.; PEREIRA, M.S.; CALIÓ M.F.; PESSOA M.C.R; SALAS, R.M. ET AL

Stockholm

Conferencia; Fifth International Rubiaceae and Gentianales Conference; 2010

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and Stockholm University

In 2009, a great collective effort, coordinated by the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden,was started to develop a list of all known species of the Brazilian flora. The first stepconsisted of developing a database and data entry system for the checklist. Then,published regional checklists and personal or institutional databases were integratedinto the system. After that, more than 400 taxonomic specialists were invited tocontribute. Over the Internet, they could access the database and review the existing listand add new data or correct those already in the system. A total of 40,989 acceptedspecies are recognized for the Brazilian flora. Rubiaceae is one of the richest families inthe flora. We recognized 1,347 species (with 43 subspecies and 62 varieties) in 118genera. Of these Rubiaceae species. ca. 51% are endemic to Brazil. Only 26% of thegenera have more than 10 species, of which the most diverse are Psychotria (19.6% ofall species), Faramea (7.8%), Rudgea (4.8%), Borreria (4.7%), Coussarea (4.1%),Palicourea (4%), Chomelia (2.7%), Galianthe (2.6%), Ixora (2.2%) and Declieuxia(2%). Rubiaceae species occur in all geographic regions and biomes, particularly in themoist forests of the Amazonian and Atlantic Coastal Forest biomes.