Vellozia veadeirensis B.Schindl., sp. nov. (Figs. 5, 7g –h, 10, and 11)

Type: — BRAZIL. Goiás: Alto Paraíso de Goiás, Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros, Área próxima do Alojamento do ICMBio, região da Vila São Jorge, 14°09'19'' S, 47°47'55'' W, 1122 m, 25 October 2024 (fl.), B. Schindler & M. Figueira 782 (Holotype CEN barcode CEN00135089, Isotypes to be sent to: HUEFS, HUFU, MBM, R, RB, SPF, UB).

Diagnosis: — Vellozia veadeirensis resembles V. peripherica Mello-Silva (2004: 457) by the marcescent and reflexed leaves, white flowers, glandular emergences on the hypanthium, short hypanthium tube, and ability to flower quickly and abundantly after fires. It can be differentiated by its caespitose and prostrate habit up to 0.2 m tall (vs. solitary, branched, and erect up to 0.4–1.5 m tall), lamina glabrous to entirely covered by fasciculate–appressed trichomes (vs. glabrous), solitary flower (vs. solitary or grouped, 2–5 per branch), smaller hypanthium 0.4–0.6 × 0.2–0.3 cm, entirely covered by glandular emergences (vs. 2–3.5 × 0.6–1.5 cm, usually glabrous or sparsely covered by glandular emergences), and 12–18 stamens (vs. (28–) 36).

Plants caespitose, prostrate, up to 0.2 m tall. Stems very short, 2.5–4 cm diam. at apex, covered by marcescent leaves, few visible, terete. Leaves spirotristichous; sheath brown, lustrous, resinous; lamina 12–19.5 × (0.4–) 0.6– 0.8 cm, linear-triangular, erect or erect-patent, with marcescent and reflexed mature leaves, abscission line absent, flat, rarely conduplicate in sicco, margin entire, sparsely to entirely covered by trichomes, apex acute or attenuate, midrib slightly sulcate to sulcate adaxially, slightly prominent abaxially, adaxial surface glabrous or sparsely to entirely covered by fasciculate–appressed white trichomes, abaxial surface glabrous to entirely covered by trichomes like those on the adaxial surface, leaves with a silvery appearance, especially the young. Flowers 1 per branch; peduncle evident, (4.5–) 7–12.5 × 0.1–0.3 cm, trigonous, sulcate, sparsely to densely covered by sessile or stipitate glandular emergences; hypanthium 0.4–0.6 × 0.2–0.3 cm, green with vinaceous edges in vivo, obconic or ellipsoid, entirely covered by sessile glandular emergences with bulbous base; hypanthium tube present; tube 0.3–1 × 0.3 cm, white or rarely cream or lilac when young, sparsely to densely covered by sessile or stipitate glandular emergences; tepals 5.8–7.8 × 1–2 cm, in two whorls, white, rarely lilac, imbricate, oblanceolate, elliptic, or oblong, with a truncated, slightly emarginate to rounded apex, often with sinus on the apical margins, outer tepals glabrous, rarely covered by sparse sessile glandular emergences restricted to the proximal portion, inner tepals glabrous; corona absent; stamens 12–18, grouped in 2–3 per tepal, inserted at the base of tepals; filaments 0.7–3 cm long, white; anthers 1.3–1.5 cm long, yellow, basifixed, latrorse, appendix absent; style 5.3–6.5 cm long, white, glabrous; style exceeding the anthers by 0.5–1.2 cm; stigma 3–4 mm diam., yellow, trilobate. Capsule 1.1–2.1 × 0.7–1.2 cm, green in vivo, brown in sicco, globose, obovoid to obconic, loculicidal, entirely covered by emergences as in the hypanthium, dry hypanthium tube persistent in the apex. Seeds 0.4–0.6 mm long, castaneous to black, irregular shape.

Comments: — Vellozia veadeirensis belongs to a group of species morphologically similar to Vellozia tubiflora (A.Rich.) Kunth (1825: 155) and V. hirsuta Goethart & Henrard in Henrard (1937: 374), both treated as polymorphic and considered as species complexes (Mello-Silva 2010). Like these, V. veadeirensis has white tepals (occasionally purple or with a slight purplish tinge), hypanthium covered with glandular emergences, and hypanthium tube present. However, it is distinguished by its caespitose and prostrate habit (vs. solitary or caespitose, erect, rarely prostrate in rheophyte plants), marcescent leaves (vs. deciduous, rarely marcescent), and shorter hypanthium tube up to 1 cm long (vs. 2.5–11 cm long). V. veadeirensis shares morphological affinities with the distantly allopatric V. cachimbensis L.B. Smith (1962: 268), a sessile plant with a stem up to 4 cm tall, occurring in the Serra do Cachimbo, Pará (Smith 1962). This taxon is currently synonymized under the polymorphic V. tubiflora complex (Mello-Silva 2010). However, unlike V. veadeirensis, the protologue of V. cachimbensis does not mention caespitose, prostrate habit. Furthermore, although the leaves of V. cachimbensis may appear marcescent in some specimens (J. M. Pires et al. 6332, 6235), the species is deciduous, as evidenced by the presence of an abscission line (vs. marcescent leaves of V. veadeirensis). In addition, its hypanthium tube is 4.5–6.5 cm long (vs. up to 1 cm). In the Chapada dos Veadeiros, V. sessilis —a microendemic species and the one most similar to V. veadeirensis —can be distinguished from it by the following features: erect habit, reaching 1 m tall (vs. prostrate, growing up to 0.2 m), simple or branched stems with deciduous leaves (vs. very short or underground stems, often not visible, covered by leaves), peduncle sessile to subsessile, hidden by leaf sheaths, up to 2.1 cm long (vs. evident up to 10.8 cm long), and longer hypanthium tube 4.5–8.5 cm long (vs. up to 1 cm long).

Phenology: —Recorded with flowers in October, and fruiting in February and March (Fig. 11e, f). Fire seems to influence its phenology by stimulating flowering and fruiting, as two collections were made after fire events. In one of the populations (B. Schindler & M. Figueira 785), fire affected only a portion of the individuals. The burnt individuals flowered simultaneously, while those unaffected exhibited few flower buds or remained sterile.

Etimology: —The specific epithet refers to the Chapada dos Veadeiros region, an important center of plant endemism in Central Brazil, where the species was found.

Distribution and habitat: — Vellozia veadeirensis has been recorded in three localities within the municipality of Alto Paraíso de Goiás, Goiás state, occuring at elevations between 1,030 –1,342 m a.s.l. Two of these populations are located about 1.5 km from each other and within the boundaries of the PNCV, while the third is approximately 24 km east (Fig. 5). One of the populations is sympatric with V. nana, reinforcing their ecological similarities. Like V. nana, V. veadeirensis inhabits shallow, sandy soils, with quartzite rubble, primarily associated with the Arraias and Traíras Formation (Araí Group) and the Lower Quartzitic Rhythmic Conglomeratic Unit (Paranoá Group) (Moreira et al. 2008; Fig. 11a, b). Although they belong to different stratigraphic units and Groups, these units share a predominantly quartzite, sandstone, and conglomerate composition, belonging to the same lithology.

Preliminary conservation status:— Vellozia veadeirensis has three recorded subpopulations, two of which are located within the boundaries of PNCV. However, one of the PNCV’s subpopulations occurs in the bordering area, near highway GO–239, where invasive alien grasses are present along its extension. This region lacks a buffer zone between the highway and the protected area, making it vulnerable to human disturbances and the potential spread of exotic grasses. In addition, the population further east is located in a private area, in a region affected by property speculation, which has already resulted in the suppression of native vegetation. The environmental conditions and threats faced by this species are similar to those described for V. nana (see above). Since two subpopulations are close to each other (2 x 2 km grid cells), only one was considered for the AOO calculation. Thus, V. veadeirensis has AOO = 8 km 2, EOO = 11, 14 km 2, and only two locations. Given that its EOO <5,000 km 2 and AOO <500 km 2, number of locations ≤ 5, observed decline in habitat quality, we assign V. veadeirensis as endangered (EN) under IUCN criterion B1ab(iii) + 2ab(iii).

Additional specimens examined: — BRAZIL. Goiás: Alto Paraíso de Goiás, Região da Chapada dos Veadeiros, Estrada de terra à esquerda sentido Alto Paraíso de Goiás (GO-118), direção à Aldeia multiétnica, 14°12'27" S, 47°34'09" W, 1342 m, 6 February 2024 (fl.), B. Schindler et al. 627 (CEN, UB); Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros, Área próxima do Alojamento do ICMBio, região da Vila São Jorge, 14°09'57'' S, 47°47'20'' W, 1030 m, 25 October 2024 (fl.), B. Schindler & M. Figueira 785 (CEN, UB); Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros, Estrada de acesso para o alojamento do ICMBio, região da Vila São Jorge, 14°09'57'' S, 47°47'20'' W, 1030 m, 6 March 2025 (fr.) B. Schindler et al. 947 (CEN, UB).