Alvimia is a new genus of climbing bamboo that occurs in a relatively small area of restinga of coastal Bahia, Brazil. It is easily distinguished from other genera of the New World by a combination of several features: fleshy fruits, flowers with two stamens arranged in pseudospikelets, and the climbing habit. The Brazilian Alvimia , Mexican Olmeca , and one Peruvian species of Guadua are the only bamboos from America with fleshy fruits, a feature also found in a few Asiatic bamboos such as Dinochloa, Melocalamus, Melocanna , and Ochlandra. Three new species in Alvimia are described: A. auriculata, A. gracilis , and A. lancifolia.