NOTES — RESEARCH NOTES
Species Distributions
For the species we grow or study, this note layers the records of where each one comes from, from four sources. The shading on the maps counts specimen records gathered in GBIF, state by state, with the positions of wild observations layered over it. Cultivated plants are excluded, because their observations would map the world’s gardens instead. The distributions given by POWO and Flora do Brasil are layered in as well; where the sources disagree, the disagreement is noted rather than settled for one side. (*Data as of November 2026)
How the Records Were ComparedHOW THE RECORDS WERE COMPARED
GBIF gathers specimen and observation records from the world’s herbaria and databases; for Dyckia, specimens are the core. The state counts are tallied from the state names on specimen labels, with variant spellings merged. iNaturalist gathers citizen observations; only those recorded as wild are plotted. Some observations have obscured coordinates, so dot positions are approximate.
POWO gives distributions not by state but by TDWG region (such as Brazil South). Of Flora do Brasil's state lists, only part is available through the copies carried by WFO. “Not retrieved” does not mean “not distributed there”.
The maps draw Brazil only. Species also recorded in Argentina, Paraguay or Uruguay (distachya, remotiflora, pampeana and others) have those records in their captions and in the text. The state boundaries are the same base used for the distribution maps in “Basics and Morphology” and “Brazil, the Homeland”.
Maps by SpeciesMAPS BY SPECIES
Dark states hold five or more GBIF records; pale states hold one to four. White dots are wild iNaturalist observations. Single records are kept pale because they may be outliers or misidentifications. For remotiflora, the Uruguayan observations fall outside the southern edge of the map.
Disagreements and Records to ConfirmDISAGREEMENTS AND RECORDS TO CONFIRM
The Rio Grande do Sul records of monticola
The specimens centre on the Quiriri range in Santa Catarina (24 specimens in GBIF), matching the view of the recent taxonomic work. Rio Grande do Sul, however, holds a 1952 specimen (Passo da Guarda, IAP 51867) and a 2012 photographic record (toward São José dos Ausentes), both on the north-eastern plateau close to the Santa Catarina border. POWO and the floras do not include Rio Grande do Sul in the state-level range, and confusion with the encholirioides complex is possible, so we keep these records marked as needing confirmation. Minas Gerais, by contrast, rests on a single 1957 specimen; the older wording “Minas Gerais and Santa Catarina” appears to be built on that specimen.
The Bahia record of tenebrosa
Since its description this species has been treated as Minas Gerais only. The Bahia evidence reduces to one 2024 gathering at Rio de Contas (Chapada Diamantina): a specimen (FLOR 80242) and an observation post from the same gathering. It is a new record with a voucher specimen, not a misprint or a photograph alone — but it is a single gathering, and neither POWO nor the flora reflects it yet. We keep it under watch as needing confirmation. A single specimen from Mato Grosso do Sul is likewise held in reserve.
The range of choristaminea
Following a 2025 taxonomic revision, POWO now extends this species to Argentina Northeast, Brazil Southeast and Uruguay. The GBIF specimens, however, concentrate in Rio Grande do Sul within Brazil, and Flora do Brasil 2020 lists Rio Grande do Sul only. The specimen data has not yet caught up with the redrawn species concept; we do not settle the question for either side.
Rio Grande do Sul and reitzii
The 2012 IUCN assessment treated Paraná and Santa Catarina as certain and Rio Grande do Sul as “presence uncertain”. In GBIF, though, Rio Grande do Sul holds the most specimens of the three states (42), and the wild iNaturalist observations centre there too. Specimens gathered after the assessment may have changed the picture.
Argentina and distachya
POWO’s range stops at Brazil South and Paraguay and does not include Argentina. GBIF, however, holds 20 specimens from Misiones (Argentina). The conservation assessment of this species, whose habitats were lost to dams, is gathered in “Habitats and Conservation Assessments”. On this point POWO is the narrower account.
magnifica and POWO’s wording
POWO’s distribution names Rio Grande do Sul only. The protologue (2023), however, cites paratypes from Santa Catarina, and the GBIF records also sit in both Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. POWO’s wording appears not to have caught up with the protologue, so the map draws both states as the protologue gives them. The records themselves are only the material cited in the protologue, and there are no wild observations yet.
The Mato Grosso records of rariflora
GBIF holds eight specimens under Mato Grosso, but all are Hoehne’s 1911 gatherings, and within each record the state name contradicts the locality text (Itambé do Mato Dentro, Cabeça de Boi — both place names in Minas Gerais). We treat them as carrying no real Mato Grosso distribution and have left the state out of the map shading. The core in the Espinhaço range of Minas Gerais is solidly backed by specimens.
lunaris: the Tocantins record and overlapping sources
The records concentrate around Vale da Lua in Chapada dos Veadeiros, Goiás. A single photographic record at Palmas, Tocantins, sits far north of the core and is kept apart as needing confirmation. Much of this species’ GBIF count is also mirrored iNaturalist observations, so the two sources are not independent here. The specimens agree around Alto Paraíso.
Old expedition specimens and single records (goiana, grandidentata)
The six Mato Grosso records of goiana are expedition specimens from 1967–68, with no recent records. The map shades the state by the same count rule as the others, but the age of the records is noted here. The Goiás record of grandidentata is a single specimen collected in 2011 in Chapada dos Veadeiros, far from the northern Mato Grosso do Sul core. It is specimen-backed, but we keep it as needing confirmation.
Thin RecordsTHIN RECORDS
Dyckia noelii has no record in any of the four sources. No species page could be identified in POWO or WFO, GBIF holds no species-level data under the name, and the name does not appear in the Dyckia treatment list of Flora do Brasil 2020. The name was never formally published: it has circulated as a proposed name for an undescribed plant from the highlands of Campo Alegre in north-eastern Santa Catarina. That is the likely reason the databases hold no record of it. We make no statement about its distribution. A domestic record also keeps this plant, of Campo Alegre origin, and notes from its inflorescence that it appears to be something other than monticola.
Some species have no wild iNaturalist observations at all (goehringii, maracasensis, milagrensis, hebdingii, estevesii, magnifica, stolonifera). Having no observations is not the same as having no documented range: hebdingii, for one, is backed by 34 specimens from Rio Grande do Sul.
Dyckia stolonifera is known from a single gathering made in 2007 in Mato Grosso do Sul (one gathering, apart from a duplicate digitisation of it). There are no wild observations, and the shape of its range cannot yet be drawn.
Dyckia ibiramensis is not mapped in this note. Its known range is limited to a short stretch of riverbank at Ibirama in Santa Catarina, and submersion by dams has been planned for it. Its conservation assessment is gathered in “Habitats and Conservation Assessments”.
SourcesSOURCES
iNaturalist observation data (retrieved November 2026; wild individuals only, cultivated plants excluded). GBIF specimen and observation records (retrieved November 2026; research-grade iNaturalist observations are also ingested by GBIF, so state counts were taken on the GBIF side). Plants of the World Online (POWO), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (accepted names and distributions by TDWG region). Flora e Funga do Brasil (Flora do Brasil 2020), Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro (state lists checked in part through the copies on WFO). The Flora Neotropica account of Dyckia monticola (Minas Gerais and Santa Catarina, via WFO). The IUCN Red List assessment of Dyckia reitzii (2012).
Researched: November 2026
