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| Chresta filicifolia Siniscalchi & Loeuille, in Siniscalchi, Loeuille et Pirani, 2016. |
Abstract
Chresta filicifolia is described and illustrated. It is a perennial herb known only from open vegetation on top of small rock outcrops at the Rio Doce Valley in Eastern Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil. This is the first record of a species of Chresta endemic to a phytogeographic domain other than the Cerrado and Caatinga, since those outcrops are included in the Mata Atlântica Domain (Atlantic Forest). The new species is closely related to C. harleyi and C. hatschbachii, but differs from these by its leaves, which are larger and more deeply lobed than those of the other two species, and also by its florets and cypselae, which are both larger in Chresta filicifolia. Moreover, the two other species are allopatric from C. filicifolia, being restricted to the Caatinga Domain. The southernmost distribution of C. harleyi lies more than 500 km away from the locality where the new species is found, making this discovery unexpected, and raising interesting biogeographical questions, which are briefly addressed here.
Keywords: Compositae, Chrestinae, Cerrado, rock outcrops, campo rupestre, endemism, disjunction, Atlantic Forest Domain, Eudicots
Chresta filicifolia Siniscalchi & Loeuille, sp. nov.
Etymology:—The epithet filicifolia refers to the leaves of this species, which are deeply lobed and reminiscent of those of a fern.
Carolina Moriani Siniscalchi, Benoit Francis Patrice Loeuille and José Rubens Pirani. 2016. A New Species of Chresta (Vernonieae, Asteraceae) endemic to the Mata Atlântica Domain, Brazil. Phytotaxa. 244(1); 80-88. DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.244.1.6
#MyFirstSpecies was Chresta filicifolia, known from one locality in Eastern Brazil, close to an area was deeply impacted by a mining accident in Rio Doce valley, 'filicifolia' means 'leaves resembling fern leaves', which is the case here #IamABotanist
