A new species of Stephanopodium (Dichapetalaceae) from eastern Brazil PEDRO FIASCHI 1 AND ANDRÉ M. AMORIM 2,3 1 Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão, travessa 14, 321, Cidade Universitária, São Paulo, SP 05508-090, Brazil; e-mail: pedrofiaschi@gmail.com 2 Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz. Rod, Ilhéus-Itabuna km 16, Ilhéus, BA 45662-900, Brazil; e-mail: amorim.uesc@gmail.com 3 Herbário Centro de Pesquisas do Cacau. Rod, Ilhéus-Itabuna km 22, Ilhéus, BA 45650-900, Brazil Abstract. A new species of Stephanopodium (Dichapetalaceae) from tabuleiro forests in southern Bahia is here described and illustrated. This species, named Stephanopo- dium gracile because of its slender habit, is compared to S. blanchetianum and S. organense. From these two species, S. gracile can be distinguished by the infloresc- ences on the apical portion of the leaf petiole, young branches with sparse short appressed trichomes, and glabrous leaves; from S. blanchetianum it differs also by leaf blades with an acuminate (vs. usually obtuse or rounded, and sometimes acute) apex. Key Words: Atlantic Forest, Malpighiales, tabuleiro forest, Bahia. Resumo. Uma espécie nova de Stephanopodium (Dichapetalaceae) de florestas de tabuleiro no sul da Bahia é aqui descrita e ilustrada. Esta espécie, nomeada Stephanopodium gracile devido ao hábito esguio, é comparada a S. blanchetianum e S. organense. Dessas duas espécies S. gracile pode ser diferenciada principalmente pelas inflorescências na porção apical do pecíolo, ramos jovens com tricomas adpressos curtos e esparsos e folhas glabras; de S. blanchetianum ela ainda difere pelas lâminas com ápice acuminado (vs. geralmente obtuso ou arredondado, ou às vezes agudo). The neotropical genus Stephanopodium Poepp. & Endl. (Dichapetalaceae) comprises 15 species, the vast majority of which occur in rainforests in northern South America and the Brazilian coast, with the exception only of S. costaricense Prance, from southern Costa Rica (Prance, 1995). The geographic distri- bution of Stephanopodium is disjunct between these two centers of diversity, as no species of the genus has been recorded so far from both the Amazonian rainforests and the cerrados and seasonally dry forests of the Brazilian Plateau. The two remaining genera of Dichapetalaceae (Dichapetalum Thouars and Tapura Aubl.) are represented by several species in the Amazonian forests, and Tapura is also found in the Atlantic forests of Espírito Santo (Prance, 1997). Stephanopodium can be easily distinguished from Tapura by the flowers with corolla lobes shorter (vs. longer) than the corolla tube and anthers borne on the tube (vs. on slender filaments), but the two genera may be hard to tell apart when flowers are lacking. Stephano- podium differs from Dichapetalum by the connate (vs. free) petals, stamens adnate to (vs. free from) the corolla tube, and the sessile (vs. usually long-pedunculate) inflorescence (Prance, 1972, 2004). There are seven endemic species of Stepha- nopodium in the Atlantic forests of Brazil, one of which (S. gracile Fiaschi & Amorim) is here described. This new species is illustrated and compared with previously studied similar spe- cies (Rizzini, 1952; Prance, 1972, 1995). Information on the geographic distribution, Brittonia, 64(2), 2012, pp. 153–156 ISSUED: 1 June 2012 © 2011, by The New York Botanical Garden Press, Bronx, NY 10458-5126 U.S.A.