Four New Species in Habenaria (Orchidaceae) from the Espinhaço Range, Brazil

Abstract—

Four new species of Habenaria restricted to the Espinhaço Range in the states of Minas Gerais and Bahia are described: H. reflexicalcar , H. hippocrepica , H. quadriferricola , and H. espinhacensis . Specimens were collected as long ago as 1816, but they were misidentified or unidentified in herbarium collections. Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on nuclear and plastid DNA sequences showed that these species form a highly supported clade, denominated Espinhacenses, which is related to other species having linear, grass-like leaves, that are concentrated in the cerrado and campos rupestres vegetation of central and southeastern Brazil, although the closest relatives to the Espinhacenses clade were not resolved. There are no apparent morphological synapomorphies for the clade, it being characterized by a combination of characters, including slender plants, linear leaves, spiral inflorescences, few to many small and glabrous flowers, a pedicel that is shorter than the ovary, and separate hemipollinaria.