Goeppertia albobracteata D. Santos, Saka & Loiola, sp. nov. (Figures 1, 2) Type:— BRAZIL. Ceará, Itapipoca, Serra de Itacoatiara, trilha para a Pedra de Itacoatiara, 03°34’35” S 39°35’07” W, 813 m alt., 7 April 2024, fl., fr., F.D. Santos 870 (holotype EAC!; isotypes SETE, NY). Diagnosis: — Goeppertia albobracteata is morphologically similar to G. cylindrica by sharing elliptic to largely obovate leaf blades, pleated in fresh material, spathes slightly recurved at the apex, and callous staminodes without a petaloid apex; it differs, however, by having leaf blades abaxially pubescent (vs. glabrous in G. cylindrica), smaller inflorescences (12–15 spathes vs. 31–46 in G. cylindrica), white spathes (vs. green), white flowers with a bright yellow external staminode (vs. light-yellow flowers), corolla tube pillous externally (vs. glabrous), and the outer staminode longer than the corolla lobes (vs. outer staminode the same length as the corolla lobes in G. cylindrica). Description: —Herb, with perennial leaves, 0.5–1.1 m tall, tubers absent; leaves cauline, 2−3, spirally arranged, cataphylls on cauline leaves ca. 1.5 cm long, lanceolate, apex acute, pubescent; innermost cataphyll of the basal leaf 4–5 cm long, lanceolate, apex acuminate, pubescent. Leaf sheath (14−) 17–26 cm long, non-auriculate, green, sparsely pubescent to glabrous. Petiole (4–) 8–30 cm long, sparsely pubescent. Pulvinus 0.8–1 cm long, glabrous. Leaf blade (21−)24–37 × 14–32(−39) cm, elliptic to largely obovate, asymmetric, apex rounded to cuspidate, base attenuate to obtuse, papyraceous, pleated when fresh; adaxial surface glabrous, green; abaxial surface densely pubescent, without macules. Synflorescence preceded by a cauline leaf, 1 per node, obovoid, 4−8 × 3−4 cm, peduncle 14−15 cm long, pubescent, green. Spathes 12–15, 2−2.2 × 2.2−2.7 cm, widely obovate, spirally arranged, apical ones narrower, apex obtuse, upper spathes recurved, external surface white, distal spathes pillous, internal surface white and glabrous; inflorescence composed of 3 two-paired cymes; prophyll bicarinate 1.6–2.0 × 1.4–1.5 cm, elliptic, apex obtuse, base truncate, papyraceous, glabrous; interphyll 1.3−1.6 × 0.8−1.4 cm, elliptic, apex obtuse, base truncate, glabrous, membranous; bracteoles 2 per cymule, ca. 1.1 cm long, oblong, membranous, keeled, glabrous. Sepals 0.8–1 cm long, narrowly elliptic, apex obtuse, white, glabrous, membranaceous. Corolla tube white, externally pillous, 1.5−1.6 cm long; corolla lobes subequal, elliptic, apex wedge-shaped, white, glabrous, 7−8 × 3−3.5 mm. Outer staminode obovate, apex emarginate, bright yellow, 8−10 × 6 mm; callous staminode without a petaloid apex, apex triangular, white, 5−6 × 4−5 mm; staminode cucullate, white, 7−8 × 3−4 mm; stamen with lateral petaloid appendage up to 1mm wide, not exceeding the anther; anther white, ca. 2 mm long. Style and stigma white, ca. 8 mm long. Ovary ellipsoidal, glabrous 1.2−1.5 mm long. Capsule loculicidal, obovoid, glabrous, ca. 1 cm long. Seeds not observed. Paratypes:— Brazil. Ceará: Caucaia, Catuana, 03°47’5.7” S, 38°46’28.4” W, 20 Jun 2024, fl., L.J.L. de Carvalho s.n. (SETE); Guaramiranga, Sítio Arvoreto, 10 Sep 2003, fl., V. Gomes 661 (EAC), Sítio Lagoa, Mata Pico Alto, 13 March 2003, fl., A. Silveira 972 (EAC); Maranguape, Serra da Aratanha, 13 March 2007, fl., A.S.F. Castro 1935 (EAC), Castelo Maranguape, 04 April 1994, fl., L.W. Lima-Verde (EAC); Mulungu, Sítio Jardim, Mata do Damásio, Sotavento, 17 April 2008, fl. fr., L.W. Lima-Verde 348708 (EAC); Ubajara, PARNAde Ubajara, 05 Jun 2017, fl., L.Q. Matias 654 (EAC), Sítio Beija Flor, 24 May 2000, fl., A.S.F. Castro 847 (EAC); Viçosa do Ceará, ao lado do Posto São Francisco, 03°35’47” S, 41°11’40” W, 26 Mar 2024, fl. fr., M.B. Loiola 3105 (EAC). Distribution, Ecology, and Phenology: — Goeppertia albobracteata is endemic to Brazil and restricted to the municipalities of Caucaia, Guaramiranga, Itapipoca, Maranguape, Mulungu, Ubajara, and Viçosa do Ceará, in Ceará State (Fig. 3). It grows in humid, sandy and clayey soils associated with the BAF and nebular tropical rainforests, at elevations ranging from 600– 820 m. It was recorded with flowers from March to June and with fruits in March. Etymology: —The specific epithet of Goeppertia albobracteata refers to the white spathes along the synflorescence. Preliminary Conservation Status: —This species is apparently restricted to nebular tropical rainforests (brejos de altitudes) where they occur in large populations (> 50 individuals) in in the municipalities of Caucaia, Guaramiranga, Itacoatiara, Maranguape, Mulungu, Ubajara, and Viçosa do Ceará. Goeppertia albobracteata can therefore be classified as of Least Concern (LC) following IUCN criterion D (2019). This conservation status should be reassessed in the near future, however, considering that the locations of its occurrences are not legally protected and will likely suffer from future deforestation due to mining activities or realestate speculation (L.J.J. de Carvalho, pers. com.). Taxonomic Notes: — Goeppertia albobracteata belongs to the subgenus Pseudophrynium Körn. having synflorescences with more than five spathes spirally arranged; and also belongs to Series Scapifoliae sensu Schumann (1902), because of the cauline leaf preceding the synflorescence peduncle. According to Kennedy (1978), the species of Series Scapifoliae present chasmogamous flowers (which do not open), as well as flowers intermediate between completely closed to cleistogamous flowers (which do open). The intermediate flowers present a corolla that opens partially, with a small aperture at the tip of the bud, and the petals never completely separate. G. albobracteata possesses flowers that completely open, with their lobes completely separating, although not reflexed. The presence of a cauline leaf subtending the synflorescence may vary within populations—indicating that a better placement for the new species would be within subg. Pseudophrynium. Preliminary phylogenetic studies involving a bigger sample of BAF species of Goeppertia resulted in the positioning of all of the BAF species within a single clade, despite morphological differences (Saka 2016), belonging to the Breviscapus clade in Borchsenius et al. (2012). A proposal for the infrageneric classification of Goeppertia has not been made after the genus was resurrected by Borchsenius et al. (2012); similarities and differences with morphologically related species, G. truncata, G. cylindrica, and G. burle-marxii are therefore presented in Table 1. It is likely that G. albobracteata belongs to the same morphological group of species having an inflorescence preceded by a cauline leaf, spathes with recurved or undulate apices, cleistogamous flowers, with corolla lobes larger than the external staminode, and a callous staminode without a petaloid apex. Goeppertia albobracteata occurs on the plateaus of the state of Ceará and possibly in Piauí, inhabiting humid forest regions influenced by orographic rainfall resulting from the ascent of moist winds from the southeast (Santos & Souza 2012). These highland areas, locally known as “ brejos de altitude” (Ab’Sáber 2003), that support a typical montane forest, albeit floristically impoverished when compared to the eastern montane-maritime forests, with a tree layer ranging from 10 to 20 meters in height, and characterized by the presence of epiphytes and macrophyllous plants (Rizzini 1997). These forested areas are surrounded at their base by “Caatinga”, a formation belonging to the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTF) of the Neotropics, whose drought-adapted species likely underwent lineage diversification during the late Miocene to early Pleistocene (Fernandes et al. 2022)—a period in which many Goeppertia lineages from the Atlantic Forest may also have diversified (Saka 2016). Goeppertia cylindrica occurs along the east coast of Brazil in the Atlantic Forest domains from the states of Sao Paulo to Pernambuco (Saka 2024), G. truncata (Link ex A. Dietr.) Borchs. & S. Suárez is restricted to the southeastern region of Brazil with records in montane forests of the states of Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, and Rio de Janeiro (Saka 2024), and G. burle-marxii occurs in the northeastern (Alagoas and Bahia states) and southeastern (Minas Gerais State) BAF regions (Saka 2024).

Published as part of Santos, Diego, Sousa, Luana Mateus De, Loiola, Maria Iracema Bezerra & Saka, Mariana Naomi, 2025, A new species of Goeppertia (Marantaceae) from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, pp. 289-296 in Phytotaxa 720 (3) on pages 290-295, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.720.3.9, http://zenodo.org/record/18424077