In September 2008, during a field trip to the unexplored mountain called Pedra dos Pontoes, in the locality of Conceicao do Muqui, county of Mimoso dos Sul, south region of Espirito Santo state, two new bromeliad species were found together with many other interesting taxa. The Pedra dos Pontoes is in most part situated inside the property of Roberto Bellato, who is trying to find an optional use of the land compatible with environment conservation, in substitute of the traditional, not at all profitable agriculture micro-business. This paper is an attempt to call the attention to the high biodiversity of the area, as well as the need of a continued botanical investigation and forest conservation.
The mountain of Pedra dos Pontoes is typically covered by humid, montane Atlantic Forest. In these forested sites, between 900 to 1,150 m elevation, large bromeliad populations cover the forest floor, predominantly "fields" of Aechmea chlorophylla L. B. Sm. and Edmundoa lindenii var. rosea (E. Morren) Leme, sparsely distributed Aechmea aff. coelestis (K. Koch) E. Morren, A. aff. ramosa Mart. ex Schult. & Schult. f. with white petals (instead of the regular yellow), A. roberto-anselmoi E. Pereira & Leme, Nidularium antoineanum Wawra, as well as dense clumps of Bromelia sp.
In the epiphytic strata, eye-catching populations of a new Neoregelia species, subgenus Longipetalopsis Leme, described in the sequence, and an atypical Vriesea carinata var. flavominiata Leme, with prevailingly yellow floral bracts instead of the usual red, dominate the scenery. Other epiphytic species are Aechmea nudicaulis (L.) Griseb., Billbergia horrida Regel, Tillandsia usneoides (L.) L., T. stricta Sol. ex Ker Gawl., V. ensiformis (Vell.) Beer, V. lubbersii (Baker) E. Morren, and V.pardaina Mez.
The higher parts, between 1,250 to 1,400 m., comprise altitude fields surrounded by breathtaking rock abysms ornamented by large populations of bromeliads, orchids and cacti. The saxicolous and rupicolous bromeliads start to occur in the transition zone between the cloud forest and the rock outcrops which form a narrow inclined pass which gives access to the harder, final part of the way to the pick.
The first taxon to attract our attention was the ornamental Vrieseafosteriana L. B. Sm., with irregularly banded leaves, followed by two Alcantarea species, one of it probably related to A. patriae Versieux & Wand., since its type locality is not far from there. Other rupicolous species found in the area, growing in fully exposed niches, are Pitcairnia aff. decidua L. B. Sm., the rare P. glaziovii Baker, until now considered an endemic species from Rio de Janeiro state, Tillandsiagardneri Lindl., and V. pseudoatra Leme.
The summit, about 1,400 m elevation, is characterized by one somewhat rounded rock and two sharply pointed ones just accessible by the use of alpinism equipment. Despite the risk, it is possible to arrive at the top of the main rounded rock by means of a very narrow way that surrounds the rock, which is sided by a 50 m rock wall you can not look up and a precipice of 500 m which...