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.

Significance: Large floristic datasets that purportedly represent the diversity and composition of the Amazon tree flora are being widely used to draw conclusions about the patterns and evolution of Amazon plant diversity, but these datasets are fundamentally flawed in both their methodology and the resulting content. We have assembled a comprehensive dataset of Amazonian seed plant species from published sources that includes falsifiable data based on voucher specimens identified by taxonomic specialists. This growing list should serve as a basis for addressing the long-standing debate on the number of plant species in the Amazon, as well as for downstream ecological and evolutionary analyses aimed at understanding the origin and function of the exceptional biodiversity of the vast Amazonian forests.

Phylogenetic relationships within Miconia and other genera in the Neotropical tribe Miconieae were investigated using a maximum parsimony analysis of nuclear internal transcribed spacer and ndhF nucleotide sequences. Included were all sections in Miconia (212 species, ∼20% of the genus) and 12 of the 15 remaining genera assigned to the tribe (an additional 239 species). Given the tribe’s reputation for problematic generic distinctions, it was not surprising that most traditionally recognized taxonomic groups—both genera and sections—were shown to be polyphyletic or paraphyletic. Nevertheless, Miconia is composed of several distinct monophyletic groups, with a large majority of the species belonging to only four clades. Some of these groups represent parts of sections proposed in the last revision of the genus, but most of the diversification seems to have occurred in geographical areas that are more restricted than would have been predicted by the distribution of these sections. Moreover, parallel evolutionary trends are seen in anther form, i.e., shifts from elongate to shorter anthers and from minute‐pored to large‐pored or slitlike dehiscent anthers. These changes may relate to pollinator shifts, especially from buzz pollination to nonvibrational pollination. Thus, the major evolutionary diversifications within the tribe have been obscured by convergence in stamen morphology, leading to many arbitrary generic and sectional circumscriptions.

Miconia has 1057 species and is the largest genus of woody flowering plants with a distribution restricted to tropical America. These species occur from Mexico (79 spp) to Argentina (10) and Uruguay (1), and attain highest richness in Colombia (338 spp), Peru (302), Brazil (274), Ecuador (254) and Venezuela (212). More than half of the species belong to only three sections (Miconia with 245, Cremanium with 223, and Amblyarrhena with 212). The other sections are Chaenopleura (86 spp), Glossocentrum (82), Tamonea (71), Octomeris (59), Jucunda (23), Laceraria (19), Chaenanthera (17), Hartigia (7), and Adenodesma (6), while seven species have not been assigned to any section. In this nomenclator we attempt to enumerate all currently accepted species of Miconia with place of publication, information on types, synonymy, sectional placement, and distributional notes organized by country.