Agalinis bandeirensis
Agalinis bandeirensis is a Brazilian flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae.[1] It is recorded in Caparaó National Park, where a botanical inventory included it among the park's rare and threatened plants.[2]
Appearance and habitat
The Brazilian flora describes plants twenty to sixty centimetres tall, with narrow, hairless leaves in opposite pairs and pink flowers. Broadly triangular calyx lobes help distinguish it. Its known habitat is high-altitude grassland in the Caparaó mountains, along the Minas Gerais–Espírito Santo border.[3]
Root parasitism
An anatomical study published in 2001 included wild-collected A. bandeirensis. Its haustoria, the structures attaching it to other roots, formed connections through water-conducting xylem tissue. Some occurred at apparent root tips as well as along the sides. The study established parasitism but did not provide a species-by-species inventory of the host plants.[4]
Conservation evidence
Brazil's national threatened-flora list of June 2022 classified the species as Critically Endangered.[5] The Caparaó inventory also used that category, drawing on CNCFlora's assessments.[2]
The inventory highlighted a wider sampling problem in the park: collections were concentrated in easily reached areas, while large areas were much less well sampled. This limits what collection records alone can reveal about the park's flora. It does not by itself demonstrate that A. bandeirensis has additional populations.[2]
Name
Kerry Barringer described the species in Brittonia in 1987.[6] Kew continues to list it as an accepted species.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Agalinis: accepted species and family placement. Plants of the World Online. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Moreira and colleagues (2020). A list of land plants of Parque Nacional do Caparaó, Brazil, highlights the presence of sampling gaps within this protected area; species list, figure 9 and discussion. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ Souza, V. C. (2020). Orobanchaceae. Flora do Brasil 2020, Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro; Agalinis species accounts, pp.5–8 and 21. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ Elias, S. I., Souza, V. C. and Appezzato-da-Glória, B. (2001). Anatomical confirmation of root parasitism in Brazilian Agalinis Raf. species (Scrophulariaceae). Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology 44(3), 303–311; doi:10.1590/S1516-89132001000300013. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ Brazil, Ministério do Meio Ambiente (2022). Portaria MMA no.148, 7 June 2022; national threatened-flora list, entries 2538–2543, PDF p.50. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ Barringer, K. (2021). Gerardia Nomenclator, revision 3; publication records for Agalinis angustifolia and A. bandeirensis. Accessed 9 October 2026.