Abstract
Xylopia atlantica, a new and endemic species from the atlantic forest of Bahia, Brazil, is described and illustrated. It is only know from a 150 km long stretch of land from Valença to Uruçuca, in central Bahian coast. The species has leaves up to 41 cm long, bigger than those from any other Brazilian Xylopia. Xylopia atlantica shares with X. decorticans and X. ochrantha cauli and ramiflorous inflorescences. It differs from the former by the non-exfoliating bark, and from the latter by the indument of the monocarps, sparsely yellow-tomentose versus densely golden-tomentose, in X. ochrantha. Although X. atlantica has been collected since relatively long ago, flowering individuals have never been encountered.
