Summary
Two endangered new species of Marsdenia R. Br. (Asclepiadoideae, Apocynaceae) from the semi-arid region of Brazil are described and illustrated: M. breviramosa (south-western Bahia) and M. nana (northern Minas Gerais). They are shrubs closely related to M. zehntneri and, like that species, are also associated with calcareous outcrops. The former can be recognised by linear leaves arranged in small, compact shoots and the latter is a subshrub less than 50 cm high whose flowers are unique because of the adaxially villous corolla and long-rostrate gynostegium.
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Acknowledgements
Floristic studies in this semi-arid region have been supported by PPBio (MCT); this article is also part of a project on diversity and phylogeny of Apocynaceae, funded by FAPESB. We thank Monique Brito de Goes for reviewing the English and David Goyder and an anonymous reviewer for improving the text. The two authors are supported by PQ grants of CNPq.
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Rapini, A., Pereira, J.F. Two new species of Marsdenia R. Br. (Apocynaceae: Asclepiadoideae) from the semi-arid region of Brazil. Kew Bull 66, 137–142 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-011-9262-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-011-9262-3