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.

A comprehensive new inventory of Brazilian plants and fungi was published just in time to meet a 2010 Convention on Biological Diversity target and offers important insights into this biodiversity's global significance. Brazil is the home to the world's richest flora (40,989 species; 18,932 endemic) and includes two of the hottest hotspots: Mata Atlantica (19,355 species) and Cerrado (12,669 species). Although the total number of known species is one-third lower than previous estimates, the absolute number of endemic vascular plant species is higher than was previously estimated, and the proportion of endemism (56%) is the highest in the Neotropics. This compilation serves not merely to quantify the scale of the challenge faced in conserving Brazil's unique flora but also serves as a key resource to direct action and monitor progress. Similar efforts by other megadiverse countries are urgently required if the 2020 targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation are to be attained.Ministerio do Meio AmbienteMinisterio do Meio AmbienteCentro Nacional de Conservacao da FloraCentro Nacional de Conservacao da FloraNational Council for Scientific and Technological DevelopmentNational Council for Scientific and Technological DevelopmentBentham and Moxon TrustBentham and Moxon Trus

This compilation of ferns and lycophytes in Brazil is an update of the one published in 2010 in Catálogo de Plantas e Fungos do Brasil. The methodology consisted in collecting data from regional checklists, taxonomic revisions, and selected databases. Invited specialists improved the list accessing a website housed at the Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. The results show 1,253 species: 1,111 of ferns and 142 of lycophytes. This number is 6.5% higher than the previous one (1,176 spp.). The percentage of endemic species decreased from 38.2% to 36.7%. We recognized 36 families and 133 genera (vs. 33 families, 121 genera in 2010). The 10 most diverse families are Pteridaceae (196 spp.), Dryopteridaceae (179), Polypodiaceae (164), Hymenophyllaceae (90), Thelypteridaceae (86), Aspleniaceae (78), Lycopodiaceae (64), Selaginellaceae (55), Anemiaceae (51), and Cyatheaceae (45). The three most diverse genera are still Elaphoglossum (87 spp.), Thelypteris (85), and Asplenium (74). The richest phytogeographic domain continues to be in the Atlantic Rainforest with 883 species which also has the largest number of endemic and threatened species, followed by the Amazon Rainforest (503), Cerrado (269), Pantanal (30), Caatinga (26), and Pampa (eight). Minas Gerais remains as the richest state (657 spp. vs. 580 in 2010).

Brazil is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, with about 37,000 species of land plants. Part of this biodiversity is within protected areas. The development of online databases in the last years greatly improved the available biodiversity data. However, the existing databases do not provide information about the protected areas in which individual plant species occur. The lack of such information is a crucial gap for conservation actions. This study aimed to show how the information captured from online databases, cleaned by a protocol and verified by taxonomists allowed us to obtain a comprehensive list of the vascular plant species from the "Parque Nacional do Itatiaia", the first national park founded in Brazil. All existing records in the online database JABOT (15,100 vouchers) were downloaded, resulting in 11,783 vouchers identified at the species level. Overall, we documented 2,316 species belonging to 176 families and 837 genera of vascular plants in the "Parque Nacional do Itatiaia". Considering the whole vascular flora, 2,238 species are native and 78 are non-native. The "Parque Nacional do Itatiaia" houses 13% of the angiosperm and 37% of the fern species known from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Amongst these species, 82 have been cited as threatened, following IUCN categories (CR, EN or VU), seven are data deficient (DD) and 15 have been classified as a conservation priority, because they are only known from a single specimen collected before 1969.

O Parque Nacional da Restinga de Jurubatiba, localizado no norte do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, abrange os municípios de Macaé, Carapebus e Quissamã. Foram registradas para a área de estudo 12 famílias com 21 gêneros e 32 espécies. As famílias encontradas foram Blechnaceae, Cyatheaceae, Davalliaceae, Dennstaedtiaceae, Dryopteridaceae, Gleicheniaceae, Lycopodiaceae, Polypodiaceae, Pteridaceae, Salviniaceae, Schizaeaceae e Thelypteridaceae. Dessas, as mais representativas em número de espécies foram Polypodiaceae (5 spp.) e Pteridaceae (5 spp.). Os gêneros com maior número de espécies foram Nephrolepis, Polypodium e Thelypteris. Das 32 espécies registradas, 23 são ervas terrestres, três são ervas epífitas, três ervas aquáticas, duas arborescentes e uma erva hemiepífita. A maior riqueza de espécies e famílias foi registrada para a formação de mata periodicamente inundada e a menor, para a formação arbustiva fechada de pós-praia. Há baixa similaridade entre a flora pteridofítica de diferentes áreas de restingas analisadas e entre as restingas e a mata atlântica. Blechnum serrulatum e Polypodium triseriale são espécies de ocorrência comum em áreas de restingas. Das 32 espécies inventariadas, 17 possuem usos atribuídos (medicinais, ornamentais e comestíveis).

O presente trabalho trata do levantamento da flora pteridofítica da Mata da Colônia, Mata da Chuva e Mata da Reserva, no município de Bonito (Pernambuco, Brasil). O local é um brejo de altitude (ca. 700-800m), cuja vegetação é diferenciada da Caatinga típica da região, condicionada principalmente pela altitude elevada, posição geográfica e aspectos climáticos que favorecem o desenvolvimento das pteridófitas. Foram realizadas 17 excursões ao local com o objetivo de coleta e observação das espécies de pteridófitas, sendo acrescentadas aos acervos de herbários, principalmente regionais, cerca de 400 espécimes. O estudo indicou a ocorrência de 93 espécies e duas variedades, distribuídas em 42 gêneros e 17 famílias. As famílias mais representativas foram Polypodiaceae, com 17 espécies e uma variedade, Thelypteridaceae e Pteridaceae, ambas com 11 espécies. O gênero Thelypteris Schmidel apresentou o maior número de espécies, com nove (e uma variedade), seguido por Asplenium L., com sete. A maioria das espécies apresentou-se como herbáceas, terrícolas e hemicriptófitas, ocorrendo no interior da mata. A flora pteridofítica local apresentou riqueza expressiva, trazendo o registro de 12 novas referências para o Estado, das quais sete ainda não haviam sido citadas para a região Nordeste.