A new species of Tibouchina Aubl. (Melastomataceae) from Espirito Santo, Brazil

Summary. A new species, Tibouchina boudetii, from central Espirito Santo state, southeastern Brazil, is described and illustrated. It belongs to sect. Pleroma (D. Don) Cogn. Tibouchina Aubl. (Melastomataceae: Melastomeae) includes c. 240 species distributed from southern Mexico and the West Indies to northern Argentina (Renner 1993). Renner (1989) suggests that Tibouchina forms a paraphyletic group and that several other genera close to Tibouchina, such as Microlepis and Desmocelis, appear to be segregates of that group. Tibouchina is divided into 11 sections. Section Pleroma (c. 48 species, Guimaraes 1997) differs from the rest in its thyrsoid inflorescences which are usually many-flowered, and in the reduced prophylls that never cover the petals in the bud. This new species was found during two ongoing projects, one by P. J. F. Guimaraes (Revision of Tibouchina) and the other by R. Goldenberg (Melastomataceae of Santa Teresa, Espirito Santo, Brazil).