An updated inventory of Brazilian seed plants is presented and offers important insights into the country's biodiversity. This work started in 2010, with the publication of the Plants and Fungi Catalogue, and has been updated since by more than 430 specialists working online. Brazil is home to 32,086 native Angiosperms and 23 native Gymnosperms, showing an increase of 3% in its species richness in relation to 2010. The Amazon Rainforest is the richest Brazilian biome for Gymnosperms, while the Atlantic Rainforest is the richest one for Angiosperms. There was a considerable increment in the number of species and endemism rates for biomes, except for the Amazon that showed a decrease of 2.5% of recorded endemics. However, well over half of Brazillian seed plant species (57.4%) is endemic to this territory. The proportion of life-forms varies among different biomes: trees are more expressive in the Amazon and Atlantic Rainforest biomes while herbs predominate in the Pampa, and lianas are more expressive in the Amazon, Atlantic Rainforest, and Pantanal. This compilation serves not only to quantify Brazilian biodiversity, but also to highlight areas where there information is lacking and to provide a framework for the challenge faced in conserving Brazil's unique and diverse flora.

The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) was established by the Conference of Parties in 2002 to decrease the loss of plant diversity, reduce poverty and contribute to sustainable development. To achieve this overarching goal, the GSPC has established a series of targets, one of which is to ensure that plant diversity is well understood, so that it can be effectively conserved and used in a sustainable manner. Brazil hosts more than 46,000 species of plants, algae and fungi, representing one of the most biodiverse countries on Earth, and playing a key role in the GSPC. To meet the GSPC goals of Target 1 and facilitate access to plant diversity, Brazil committed to preparing the List of Species of the Brazilian Flora (2008-2015) and the Brazilian Flora 2020 (2016-present). Managing all the information associated with such great biodiversity has proven to be an extremely challenging task. Here, we synthesize the history of these projects, focusing on the multidisciplinary and collaborative approach adopted to develop and manage the inclusion of all the knowledge generated though digital information systems. We further describe the methods used, challenges faced, and strategies adopted, as well as summarize advances to date and prospects for completing the Brazilian flora in 2020.

The shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora.

Diplusodon is the second–largest genus of the Lythraceae with 103 species of shrubs or subshrubs endemic to the Cerrado Domain. Many species are narrow endemics, restricted to campos rupestres on quartzite rocks, while others are found in cerrado and, more rarely, in gallery, or dry forest margins. Phylogenetic relationships inferred from nuclear ITS and ETS sequences strongly support the monophyly of Diplusodon. We found four major clades, three of which are strongly correlated with endemism and are centered in the Espinhaço Range (CEP), the Plateau Goiano (PG) and the Chapada Diamantina (CD). The fourth clade was designated the Cerrado clade (C), containing species from all three centers of diversity as well as widely distributed species and several species of lower–elevation cerrado. Species with the most plesiomorphic features occur in the clades east of the São Francisco River (C, CEP, CD), while the greatest morphological diversity is found in the PG. The crown node of the genus is estimated to date to the late Pliocene, likely diversifying in the campos rupestres, where most of the later Pleistocene speciation bursts also appear to have occurred. These patterns of diversification in Diplusodon appear to agree with old stable landscapes (OSL) theory, where high levels of in situ speciation in islands of campo rupestre, possibly isolated by more intense fire regimes of the surrounding cerrado vegetation, resulted in accumulation of high numbers of microendemic species. However, the adaptability of the genus is evidenced by multiple dispersal events to lower elevation cerrado, several long–distance dispersals, notably in the C clade, and the presence, in several clades, of species found both in campo rupestre and cerrado habitats.

This study provides a checklist of the phanerogams and pteridophytes of the Tocantins river middle basin, in northern Goiás state and southern Tocantins state, Brazil. Herbarium samples were collected from 2000 to 2009 and this floristic survey recorded 1572 species from 135 families. The most species-rich families were Fabaceae (217), Poaceae (116), Asteraceae (88), Euphorbiaceae (65), Orchidaceae (58) and Malpighiaceae (56). Furthermore, 14 endangered species and 31 rare species were recorded, mainly associated with the campos rupestres in the Veadeiros Plateau region. The flora mainly from the phytophyisiognomies cerrado stricto sensu, campo rupestre (“rocky fields”), mata de galeria (“gallery forest”), mata ciliar (“riverine forest”) and semi-deciduous seasonal forest comprised typical species of the mid-western Cerrado floristic province, such as the most widely known woody plants Anadenanthera colubrina (Vell.) Brenan (popular name angico), Aspidosperma subincanum Mart. ex A. DC. (guatambú), Astronium fraxinifolium Schott ex Spreng. (gonçalo-alves), Callisthene fasciculata Mart. (pau-jacaré), Dipteryx alata Vogel (barú), Guazuma ulmifolia Lam. (mutamba) and Magonia pubescens A. St.-Hil. (tingui). This study is the first to record a wide floristic list of this important region of central Brazil.