Julio César Ribeiro
Krenakanthus ribeiranus, found in Minas Gerais, has hairy leavesJulio César RibeiroA new species of bromeliad is challenging the image we have of these plants as having pointed, somewhat rigid, shiny leaves, organized in a circular pattern that helps gather water. Krenakanthus ribeiranus does not fit this description. “In addition to being a plant that I had never seen in the region, the hairy leaves like grass caught my attention, not to mention the flowers emerging from the middle of the leaves,” said Júlio César Ribeiro in a statement to Agência Bori. Ribeiro is from Vale do Rio Doce in Minas Gerais and is not a scientist. He found the new plant when a small pink flower on a rockface caught his eye while he was exploring in the forest. “This plant is so different that when we received the photo from Júlio, we thought of several species to which it might belong, but we did not suspect it was a bromeliad,” reported botanist Dayvid Couto of the National Institute for the Atlantic Forest (INMA), a member of the group that described the new species. The genus, which contains only one other species, means flower of the Krenak, an Indigenous people from the region. K. ribeiranus, whose name also pays homage to its discoverer, is now classified in the scientific record as endangered (Phytotaxa, October 5).
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