Grao-Mogol State Park is a 33,325 hectare public conservation unit established in 1998 and maintained by the Instituto Estadual de Florestas of Minas Gerais State (IEFMG). It is situated at the northern region of Minas Gerais State, in the mountainous terrain of Serra Geral (Espinhaco range) and under the hydrological influence of the Jequitinhonha River, with the predominance of "Campos Rupestres" (grasslands on rocky soils) vegetation. The park shelters a peculiar bromeliad flora, including unusual endemic species originally described from the area (i.e., type locality), like Encholirium invinii L. B. Sm., Orthophytum humile L. B. Sm. and Dyckia granmogulensis Rauh.
The first botanist to highlight the Bromeliaceae of Grao-Mogol was Alvaro Astolpho da Silveira (1867-1945) with the description of Tillandsia graomogolensis Silveira (Silveira 1931), now considered a synonym of Tillandsia streptocarpa Baker (Leme and iqueira-Filho 2006). However, the first floristic survey of the family was provided by Wanderley and Forzza (2003), listing 18 species from eight genera.
An official systematic survey was initiated in August 2007 with the purpose of verifying the identity of some bromeliad species portrays (2003) whose identity was not in accordance with the respective protologue. This paper is the first result of the field expedition carried out in the period of August 9 to 12, 2007.
The two new species proposed here are members of the "subcomplex mello-barretoi" of the "complex with scapose inflorescence", which was originally conceived with two species, (Leme 2004), i. e., O. mello-barreroi L. B. Sm. and O. eddie-estevesii Leme, but the total number was recently raised to three species with the inclusion of O. schulzianum Leme & M. Machado. With the new taxa presented in this paper, "subcomplex mellobarretoi" now comprises five species, which reinforces the importance of this subcomplex and suggests the need of a carefull evaluation in order to verify whether it deserves a formal status (e.g., subgenus status) inside Orthophytum.
Orthophytum graomogolense Leme & C. C. Paula, sp. nov. Type: Brazil, State of Minas Gerais, Grao-Mogol, near the intersection with the road to Cristalia, margin of It acambiracu river, near the bridge, terrestrial on sandy soil among quartzite outcrops of Campos Rupestres, 16°35'54"S, 42°54'11"W, 650 m elev., 9 Aug. 2007, E. Leme 7175 & C. C. Paula (Holotype, HB. Isotype, RB).
A O. mello-barretoi L. S. Sm., cui affinis, laminis foliorum longioribus, scapo 25-28 cm longo, inflorescentia prope basin subdense florida, bracteis floriferis longioribus altitudinem sepalorum sub aequantibus, floribus longioribus, sepalis anguste lanceolato-triangularibus longioribusque, petalis longioribus et antheris longioribus differt.Plant terrestrial, stemless to short caulescent before anthesis, ca. 40 cm high at anthesis, propagating by basal rhizomes, but without shoots originated from the inflorescence. leaves 6 to 10, laxly rosulate and forming a distinct rosette before anthesis and afterwards, the upper leaves not distinguishable from the scape bracts; sheaths inconspicuous, subreniform, ca. 5.5 x 1.5 cm, strongly corrugate; blades sublinearattenuate, long-caudate, 38-90 cm long, 3-4 cm wide at the base, ca. 2 mm thick near the base, coriaceous, suberect-arcuate, distinctly channeled toward the base mainly under water...