Vriesea ilhagrandensis Leme & W. Till 2025, sp. nov.

Vriesea ilhagrandensis Leme & W. Till, sp. nov. (Fig. 20 A–H) Diagnosis:—This new species is morphologically closely related to Vriesea rubyae E. Pereira (1971: 115), differing from it by the leaf blades narrowly subriangular and acuminate (vs. narrowly lingulate, rounded to slightly emarginate with a slender apiculus), narrower inflorescence (ca. 2 cm vs. 3–3.5 cm), floral bracts elliptic (vs. suborbicular), and sepals elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate (vs. oblong-ovate, acute). Type:— BRAZIL. Rio de Janeiro: Angra dos Reis, Ilha Grande, trilha para o Pico do Papagaio, ca. 828 m elev., 23º 09’ 20.83” S, 44º 11’ 32.05” W, 2 March 2002, E. Leme 5427, B. R. Silva, F. Tatagiba & L. Souza (holotype RB!). Description:— Plants epiphytic, flowering ca. 35 cm tall, propagating by spreading stolons ca. 6 cm long, ca. 0.7 cm in diameter, covered by densely arranged, stramineous cataphylls. Leaves ca. 15, suberect, forming at the base a narrow funnelform rosette; sheath broadly elliptic, 5–5.5 × 3.5–4 cm, subdensely brown lepidote, dark winish-purple, finely nerved; blade narrowly subriangular, 10–11 × 1.5–2 cm, not narrowed toward the base, dark winish-purple near the base, green toward the apex, sparsely and inconspicuously white lepidote mainly abaxially to glabrescent, apex acuminate. Peduncle erect, ca. 18 cm long, ca. 0.4 cm in diameter, rigid, greenish, glabrous; peduncle bracts lanceolate, acute to acuminate and shortly caudate, exceeding the internodes, erect, imbricate, completely covering the peduncle, red except for the greenish apex. Inflorescence (fertile part) simple, densely flowered, decurved but not pendulous, ca. 15 × 2 cm, sublinear in outline, distinctly complanate, exceeding the leaf blades, rachis completely covered by the floral bracts, subangulose, glabrous, ca. 3 mm in diameter, internodes 8–10 mm long; floral bracts slightly exceeded by the sepals, base truncate, slightly incurved toward the apex, erect with the flowers, densely imbricate, laterally compressed, obtusely if at all carinate, elliptic, red except for the pale yellowish apex, ca. 27 × 18 mm, thin in texture, glabrous, acute. Flowers ca. 14 in number, anthesis diurnal, odorless, distichous, not secund, ca. 45 mm long (not including the stamens), pedicels ca. 8 × 4 mm (at the distal end), green, glabrous; sepals elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate, ca. 25 × 8 mm, glabrous, reddish near the base, pale yellowish toward the apex, free, ecarinate, cymbiform, thin in texture; petals sublinear-spathulate, ca. 38 × 5.5–6 mm, connate at the base for ca. 4 mm, apex narrowly rounded and inconspicuously emarginate, forming a tubular corolla except for the suberect distal portion, yellow, bearing at the base 2 narrowly obovate, obtuse to subacute, entire, ca. 11 × 1.5–2 mm appendages adnate to the petals for ca. 8 mm. Stamens distinctly exceeding the petals at anthesis; anthers linear, ca. 5 mm long, base bilobed, apex obtuse, dorsifixed ca. 1 mm above the base; stigma convolute-blade II (vrieseoid), densely papillose, ca. 1.5 mm in diameter, exceeding the anthers; ovules caudate. Capsules unknown. Distribution and habitat:–– Vriesea ilhagrandensis is only known from the type locality, where it grows as an epiphyte on the higher tree branches, in an a 830 m elevated area covered by well-preserved Atlantic Forest vegetation (fig. 20 A). It was found in the trail to Pico do Papagaio, the second highest peak on the Ilha Grande, a large oceanic island situated at the so called “Green Coast”, in the county of Angra dos Reis, Rio the Janeiro state, southeastern Brazil. Ilha Grande is well-known for its wild beaches of clear water and well-preserved forest, which attracts a lot of tourists every year. Besides its close morphological parent, V. rubyae, other epiphytic Vriesea species were documented in the same area, such as V. jonghei (K. Koch 1868: 91) E. Morren (1878: 257), V. unilateralis (Baker 1888: 105) Mez (1894: 545), and V. vagans (L.B. Smith 1943: 121) L.B. Smith (1966: 118), as well as a rupicolous V. aff. regnelli treated by Moura (2011) as a new species, but not yet officially published. Etymology:—The name chosen for this new species is a direct reference to Ilha Grande, the place where it was discovered. Distinctive characters:— Vriesea ilhagrandensis is closely related to V. rubyae, another inhabitant of the Atlantic Forest of Rio de Janeiro state, which also lives in the same area where this new species was found. Both species are small-sized and stoloniferous, despite their rosette conformation and leaf blades color clearly distinguish them from each other. They also share the complanate inflorescence bearing floral bracts and flowers of similar colors. In addition, V. ilhagrandensis clearly differs from V. rubyae by its leaf blades narrowly subriangular and acuminate (vs. narrowly lingulate, rounded to slightly emarginate with a slender apiculus), narrower (1.5–2 cm vs. 3–4 cm wide), green toward the apex (vs. green-glaucous toward the apex), narrower inflorescence (ca. 2 cm vs. 3–3.5 cm), sublinear in outline (vs. oblong-lanceolate to narrowly elliptic-ovate), floral bracts elliptic (vs. suborbicular), narrower (ca. 18 mm vs. 30 mm wide), and sepals elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate (vs. oblong-ovate, acute).