Soares Filho & M.Machado, is described. The new species is characterized by its robust, erect and unbranched stems with woolly ring cephalia, the high number of ribs, the areoles with flexible spines, the small tubular flowers with thin and delicate, spreading perianth segments, and the small obovoid fruits with translucent and aqueous funicular pulp. Resumo Uma nova espcie de Arrojadoa, Arrojadoa mary- lanae Soares Filho & M.Machado, descrita. A nova espcie se caracteriza por seu caule robusto, ereto e indiviso provido de ceflios anelares lanosos, pelo elevado nmero de costelas, pelas arolas providas de espinhos flexveis, pelas flores tubulares pequenas com segmentos do perianto pouco espessos, delicados e patentes, e pelos fru- tos obovides pequenos com polpa funicular translcida e aquosa. Description Arrojadoa marylanae sp. nov. Holotypus: Brazil, Bahia, Mun. Tanhau, district of Suuarana, Serra Escura, 19 Apr. 2003, M.Machado 28 (HUEFS). ab omnibus speciebus Arrojadoae habito erecto, planta longiora latioraque, caule indiviso costis numerosioribus, spinis setosis flexilibus, cephalio lanosiore, floribus cum petalis tenuibus expansisque, fructibus cum pulpas aqu- osa, reliquiis floris basi angustioribus differt. Figure 1 The flower of Arrojadoa marylanae Figure 2 (Facing page) Avaldo de Oliveira Soares Filho and Marlyan Coelho, the discoverers of Arrojadoa marylanae, standing next to a tall, branching specimen Arrojadoa marylanae a new Arrojadoa species from the state of Bahia, Brazil By Avaldo de Oliveira Soares Filho 1 & Marlon Machado 2 . Photography by Marlon Machado. 1 Departamento de Cincias Naturais, Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia, Estrada do Bem Querer, Km 04, Vitria da Conquista, Bahia, CEP 45100-000, Brazil. Email: avaldo@uesb.br 2 Departamento de Cincias Biolgicas, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Rodovia BR 116, km 03, Feira de Santana, Bahia, CEP 44031-460, Brazil. Email: marlon@brcactaceae.org Stem solitary, columnar-erect, 1.53m tall, normally unbranched unless damaged, but sometimes develop- ing a few lateral branches in very old specimens; vasc- ular cylinder rather woody, 20 mm in diameter; tissues mucilaginous; roots fibrous, much branched and super- ficial. Stem 68(10)cm in diameter, segmented by ring cephalia, segments 410cm high, the basal segment 30-60cm in height (corresponding to the juvenile phase of growth), epidermis dark green; ribs 2436, low, crenate, rounded, 35mm wide, 45mm high, 58mm apart; number of ribs in the same individual variable between segments. Areoles orbicular, 2mm wide, 79mm apart along the rib, with white felt at first, later glabrous; spines flexible, thin, aciculate, scarcely differentiated between centrals and radials, 1218 at first, 220mm in length with one longer to 35mm in length, golden yellow when new, then straw yellow, brownish-grey in older portions of the stem; indeterminate growth of areoles near stem base present with new spines to 60mm in length. Fertile part of stem apical, forming a cephalium as broad as the stem apex, later transformed into a lateral, ring-like cephal- ium through continued vegetative growth of the stem, that in this way develops up to 20 and sometimes more ring cephalia along its axis, each ring cephalium 812mm high, 79cm in diameter; cephalium areoles with abundant cream-yellow to orange-yellow wool interspersed with long reddish brown bristles to 2535mm. Flowers appear both in the new apical cephalium and in the older ring cephalia; flower-buds coloured pink to pale pinkish magenta from the earliest stages of their development; flowers diurnal, opening at morning and remaining open until late afternoon, sometimes remaining open through the night and clos- ing in the next morning, tubular, pink to pale pinkish magenta, 2530(35)mm in length, only one third to half of its length exserted from the cephalium; peri- anth 1012mm in diameter, segments patent, inner perianth segments spatulate, 79mm in length, 1mm wide, outer perianth segments scale-like, 17mm in length, 1mm wide; tube nearly cylindric, slightly broadened near the base (nectar-chamber region), upper region striated longitudinally, 1012mm in length, 45mm in diameter above the nectar-chamber region, 56mm in diameter at apex just below the outer perianth segments; nectar-chamber region of the tube slightly flattened, 4mm in length, 5mm wide, 4mm thick; pericarpel smooth, naked, obovoid, slight- ly flattened, clearly delimited from the tube, 34mm in length, 4mm wide, 2mm thick; stamens numerous, 2mm in length, covering the inner surface of the tube like a carpet; style 14 mm in length, enclosed in the tube; stigma 6-lobed, each lobe 2mm in length. Fruit obovoid to globose, indehiscent, naked except for the persistent floral remains attached at apex, expressed from the cephalium and falling down from the plant; flower remnant drying black, normally erect, 4mm at base, shallowly inserted in fruit apex; pericarp smooth, slightly flattened longitudinally, 1015mm in length, Figure 4 Fruits of Arrojadoa marylanae (left, three fruits) and Melocactus bahiensis (right, two fruits) Figure 3 The fruit of Arrojadoa marylanae 10mm in diameter, bright lilac-pink to pinkish-magenta, paler towards the base; funicular pulp translucent, aqueous. Seeds numerous, usually more than 200 per fruit, cochleariform, glossy, small, 1.1- 0.9mm, testa-cells flat, with interstitial pits. Habitat and distribution On exposed rock outcrops composed of white quartz rock, in fissures of rock faces or in shallow cavities in the rock filled with quartz gravel, quartz sand and humus, in an altitude of 550750m, within the caatinga vegetation zone in a summer rainfall semiarid region, south- western Bahia, Brazil. Etymology The species is named after the biology stu- dent Marylan Coelho, who discovered the plant together with the first author in an expedition to the Serra Escura in September of 2001. The expedition to explore the flora of the Serra Escura was envisioned by Marylan Coelho, who grew up in Suuarana, a small village close to the Serra Escura, and always wanted to explore it., and the authors wish to acknowledge this by describing the new species with her name. The new species was discovered in September of 2001 during an expedition organized by Avaldo de Oliveira Soares Filho, Professor of Ecology in the Natural Sciences Department of the State University of south-western Bahia, and Marylan Coelho, biology student in that university. The goal of the expedition was to explore the flora of Serra Escura, a hill rising to about 300m altitude above the surrounding countryside, and located near Suuarana, a small village which is in a district belonging to the municipality of Tanhau, in the south-western region of the state of Bahia. The lower areas sur- rounding the hill have patches of caatinga vegetation interspaced with cultivated Figure 5 Seedling plant of Arrojadoa marylanae growing in the white quartz gravel Figure 6 Cliff habitat with dozens of plants of Arrojadoa marylanae. The population consists of plants of all sizes land, mostly pasture land; on the slopes of the hill grows a low deciduous dry forest, and the uppermost portion of the hill is a massive outcrop of white quartz rock where grows a sparse rupicolous vegetation. The name Serra Escura means black mountain, and this is a reflection of the sense of humour of the local people, as the mountain is actually white. Soares Filho and Marylan Coelho decided to survey the rupicolous veg- etation of the hill, potentially rich in endemics due to the isolation of this habitat, and photographs were taken of all plants they found. During August 2002 Marlon Machado visited Soares Filho in Vitria da Conquista, Bahia, and Soares Filho asked him to identify the cacti he had photographed in his expedition to the Serra Escura. Machado immed- iately recognized the Arrojadoa species shown in the pictures as something new. A new expedition to the site was then planned, with the objective of collecting material of the new species for study. In January of 2003 the discoverers of the new species and the sec- ond author visited the Serra Escura, and plants were found in flower. A few plants were collected and kept in cultivation by Soares Filho in order to proceed with the description of the new species. A further visit to the habitat was made in April 2003 by Soares Filho, Machado and Coelho, this time accompanied by Raymundo Reis Filho, Marcello Moreira, and the Kew botanists Nigel Taylor and Daniela Zappi. At this time plants were found in fruit, and the description could then be completed. The accompanying vegetation is composed of small shrubs in the legume family (Camptosema sp., and Senna sp.), Velloziaceae (Vellozia sp., Barbacenia sp.), Rubiaceae, Malvaceae, and herbs, grasses, and bulbs including Hippeastrum sp. Other cactus species found in the hab- itat of Arrojadoa marylanae are Espostoopsis dybowskii (the Serra Escura is a new locality for this species), Melocactus bahiensis, Melocactus ernestii, Melocactus sp., Pilosocereus pachycladus, and Tacinga inamoena. In the caatinga vegetation that surrounds the Serra Escura the following cactus species can also be found: Arrojadoa penicillata, Arrojadoa rhodantha, Cereus jamacaru, Coleocephalocereus goebelianus, Melocactus salvadorensis, Melocactus zehntneri, Pereskia bahiensis, Pilosocereus cating- icola, Pilosocereus gounellei, Pilosocereus pentaedrophorus Figure 9 Pilosocereus pachycladus shares the same habitat with Arrojadoa marylanae Figure 8 Plant of Arrojadoa marylanae in fruit Figure 7 (facing page) A small but mature individual of Arrojadoa marylanae ssp. robustus, Stephanocereus leucostele, Tacinga funalis and Tacinga palmadora. Arrojadoa marylanae readily stands out from all other Arrojadoa species due to its bigger size, thicker and unbranched stems, higher number of ribs, flexible spines, woollier cephalia, flowers with thin, spreading perianth segments (Figure 1), fruits with watery pulp and flower remnant narrower at base and shallowly inserted in fruit apex. The seeds with flat testa-cells and interstitial pits could be viewed as another distinguish- ing feature, but this testa morphology is also present in Arrojadoa dinae, as illustrated by Barthlott & Hunt (2000, pag. 104 fig. 49.5). The cephalium seems par- ticularly well-developed in this species when compared to other Arrojadoa species: it occupies the whole apex of the stem, and is much woollier. Also, growth through the cephalium compresses it and forces its structures to a horizontal position, while in the other Arrojadoa species growth through the cephalium makes the cephalium structures only a little inclined. The overall shape of Arrojadoa marylanae is highly rem- iniscent of Stephanocereus leucostele, and without the flowers and fruits it could easily be mistaken as a mem- ber of that genus, particularly when old, tall plants develop side branches (Figure 2). However, branching is extremely rare in this species, only two specimens branching naturally (without apparent damage to the apical meristem) having been observed. The flowers of this species show a superficial similar- ity to Melocactus flowers, as they have thin and elon- gated, spreading perianth segments, and half or more of the length of the flower is concealed by the cephal- ium wool (Figure 1). The more striking difference between the flowers of Arrojadoa marylanae and flowers of other Arrojadoa species is the absence in the first of the convex, fleshy outer perianth segments typical of the later. However, flowers with characteristics similar to those of Arrojadoa marylanae are also found in the genus, e.g. in Arrojadoa multiflora. The small fruits with watery pulp are also highly rem- iniscent of Melocactus, and in colour and size (but not in diameter) the fruits of Arrojadoa marylanae match very well those of the sympatric Melocactus bahiensis (Figure 4). Melocactus fruits are regularly eaten by lizards, probably for the water content; as a result lizards disperse the seeds of Melocactus (Taylor 1991). Figure 10 Melocactus bahiensis growing in the white quartz sand at the habitat of Arrojadoa marylanae Figure 11 (facing page) Espostoopsis dybowskii is also found at the habitat of Arrojadoa marylanae It is hypothesized here that the similarities in fruit characters between Arrojadoa marylanae and Melocactus could be a case of convergence to the same dispersal agent. Perhaps the similarities of fruit size and watery pulp reflect the preferences of the lizards a suitable fruit size for nipping, and a suitable water content. Even the more well-developed cephalium of Arrojadoa marylanae could be linked with the mode of dispersal of its fruits, as the tight wool of the cephalium causes the fruits to be actively expressed from it, falling to the ground and thus becoming more conspicuous to the lizards. Another distinguishing feature of Arrojadoa marylanae is the very regular production of the ring cephalia, as shown by the uniform size of the stem segments between consecutive cephalia. In Arrojadoa rhodantha and in Stephanocereus leucostele (species that, in common with Arrojadoa marylanae, produce many cephalia along their stems), the stem-segments are often not uniform in size, and vegetative growth of the stem can span for more than one season of growth, with checks of the growth during unfavorable periods showing as con- strictions along the stem. These growth checks are completely absent in Arrojadoa marylanae; thus, due to the very regular production of ring cephalia in this species, the number of segments can be an indication of the age of the plant. If each segment corresponds to one years growth, a plant with 20 cephalia is more than 20 years old, taking into account the growth of the juvenile phase. So far Arrojadoa marylanae is known only from the type locality, where the population is estimated to be a few thousand plants of all sizes. The number of seedling plants is particularly high in number and density, and shows that the species is reproducing well. There are no current threats to the habitat as the terrain is unsuit- able for farming, and quarrying is not likely to occur as the quartz rock is fragile and breaks easily. The only threat the plants can face is that of collection. It is hoped that it will not endanger this unique and rare species. REFERENCES: BARTHLOTT, W. & HUNT. D. (2000) Seed-diversity in the Cactaceae sub- fam. Cactoideae. Succulent Plant Research 5. 173p. TAYLOR, N. P. (1991) The Genus Melocactus (Cactaceae) in Central and South America. Bradleya 9: 1-80.