Two New Species of Nanuza (Velloziaceae) from Brazil Ruv Jose Vllka AlvesI)ep)artaurento <e Botainica, lHerbairio. Museu Nacional. Quinta da Boa Vista s.n., Sio (Cristivao. Rio de Janeiro. 1J1. BIrazilA iS'rti (:t . Nauiza almeidae Alves and \. luetz-elburgii Alves are described as Inew species of thepreviously nonotypic Nazai I. I.. Smith & Ay-ensu (Velloziaceae). Nanuza (hlmcidae is distin-guished fromn Nanuza plicata andr N. lu'tzelburgiimainly by leaf blades basally narrowedl into a pseu-ldopetiole. linear-lanceolate tepals, triangular fila-n1ents with a flattened base. and presence of lalb-liane-tylpe literpenes. \ituzti lIutzelburgii isdistinguished fromn both other species blv roundededges on the trigonous caulex, lamina with furrowswith abundant, sturdy hairs, vestigial atlaxial fur-rows, and serrulate sheath margins, lacking the fil-aments typical of thie closely relatdl N. plicata uandN. alreidae, andt by presence of hleptadecenic acid.Xeroplhytolic acid was found in Nanuiza plicata butnot in bolh new species.HISt Mo. Nanuza alrneidae Alves e A. lIetzelbur-gii Alves saio descritas cor1io espc't'ies Iil as do gu-nerio ate entao cornsiderado mtronotlipico, corn apenasNanuza plicata (Martius) 1.. II. Snritlh & Avensu(Velloziaceae). Nanuza tlincidae se tlistingue detNanuza plicala e N. lu'izelhurgii iplas tepalas lin-ear-lanceoladas, liimbo foliar na base estreitado emntpse'udopleeolo, mnais largo e currt, alaxialnmenteglal)rescente. tileles triangulares coni l ase acliatadae pela presen'a de (literpenos do tlipl lallarno. \ia-nuza luetzelburgii st distingute de . plicatla t ' .alreidae pelas inargens arredotladals ilo caulextrigono, iree'nchiinento (los sulcos no limb|o poralirndantes p)hlos rigi<dos, sulcos vestigiais na faceadaxial, bainhas foliares corn margens serreadas,sern as cerdas caracteristicas de N. plicait e N.(i/leidae, beh'l (coro pela iresentia ie t citdo hep-taltec'ernico. Nanuza plicaia se distingue dlas espe-cies novas pela presenta tle aicitlo xerofitolico. Key words: Brazil. leptaldececnic acid. leaf anat-ormy, iNantuza tetracosanoic acidt, Velloiaceae. The Velloziaceae are a predlminantlyl Neotropi-cal family with a major center of diversity in Bra-zil's savannie vegetation (cantlpo riuestre'. tcerraltdo,and caalinga). Many species are kinown otnly fromntheir holotypes. duplicates are rare iln herlaria, andmany populations are narrowly endemic,. A few spe-NV()N 12: 12-17. 2002.cits. such as .'anuizai plicat. ar aapparentll morewidespread. occurring in several poplulations dis-persed as a tmosaic throughout their ranges. Thoughtlie populations of Nanuza are reportedt'l I somecollectors as Idense and commnon, tlhe genus is poor-ly represented in herbaria, with the exception ofSPW" (over 50 specirmens) and RH (ca. 20). The ma-terial of An;ruza sent by VIES (lherbario. Muiseu deBiologia Mello Ieitao. Santa Teresa. State of Espir-ito Santo) got lost in the mail during a floid, andno material (even under earlier synonyms) was lo-cated in (;A antl liB. ThIe plicate leaves and trigontous caunlx led Mar-tils to describe 'llozia plicata (Martius. 1823) based on a plant he had collected in 1810 ill Bahia. The species was subsequently transferred to X'ero-lphiyai by Sprengel (1827). A specimen 'col lected in 1820 by Pohlil in Minas (erais was described as I 'llzia triquetra Pohl (1827). IBaker (1875) trans-ferre'd P1rlhl's species to Xerophlyt. The genus a(t-nuzar was segregated from lellozia \Vaildelli by Smith and Ayensu (1976), based on Itellozia plicata Martins (Martius. 1823). Smiitli and Aye'nsu based the new genus on plicate leaves with more deeply furrowed I adaxial sulrfaces. trigonouis caullix. and pollen disipersed in single grains, as opposetl to Icl-lozia, which is characterized by terete leaves with furrvows restricted to the abaxial surfiacet ant pollen in tetrads. The originally proposed differential characters still hohll true for \'inuzai as circulm-scribed here. witlh tlie exception of tlie relative deplh of lihe furrlows on the lamina. which aret deep-er on the abaxial side in N. /ui'zelhurgii and tN. atlinidae. A further distinctive character of N aitnuzt is theneatll tristichous leaf set (it is spiral in Ill/ozni).Though I'llozia' candida Mikan has a slightly tri-gonouls stem' (Alves. 1994) hidthen bv a layer ofsheaths forrning a cylindrical caudlex. and Iristi-cihous leaf rosettes, the clearly trigonous cautldexdistinctive of \anuza conceals a cylindrical stern.A distinct pseudopetiole is present in Nanutza (l-m'ida, andl I have not found a refe'rence to one i inoiiter Velloziaceae. Characters such as leaf 1iint-nient, anatomy. and chemical constituents of epi-