Alessandro Rapini has been Professor of Botany at the State University of Feira de Santana (Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana—UEFS), Bahia, Brazil, since 2004. He received his B.Sc. in Biological Sciences from the University of São Paulo (USP) in 1996, earned his Ph.D. in Botany from the same institution in 2000 and completed his postdoctoral research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (UK) in 2002. He has experience in floristics, plant systematics, evolutionary biology and conservation. His research has focused on the taxonomy, phylogenetics and biogeography of Apocynaceae, particularly the subfamily Asclepiadoideae, as well as on the neotropical flora, with a special emphasis on rupestrian grasslands (campos rupestres) and seasonally dry tropical forests.