Floristic composition of tree and shrub species of the Jaraguá State Park, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this study was to characterize the floristic composition of trees and shrubs of the Jaraguá State Park (PEJ), contributing to the knowledge of its biodiversity. Reproductive botanic material was collected along three trails during a 12-month period. The field survey resulted in a flora of 262 native species, 153 genera and 55 families. Fabaceae was the richest family (30 species), followed by Myrtaceae (26), Asteraceae (24), Melastomataceae (20), Lauraceae (16) and Rubiaceae (15). As mentioned for other forest remnants in São Paulo metropolitan region and surroundings, the PEJ vegetation is in a transition zone, where the main formation is the ombrophilous dense forest, but where species of seasonal semi-deciduous forest also occur. Besides that, there is a completely different phytophysiognomy occurring in a region with rocky outcrops and low depth soils, in which cerrado species were found, and that deserves more specific studies. In this site, the vegetation of grasses is the most abundant, and there are also shrubs and trees sparsely distributed, many of them with low height and suberous trunk. Most specifically in this area there were 55 species of 41 genera and 18 families, from which 22 did not occur in the other sites visited. Asteraceae was the family with the higher number of species (15), followed by Myrtaceae (7), Fabaceae (5) and Melastomataceae (4). Twenty exotic species were found along the trails. Despite the fact that PEJ has a big area of secondary vegetation and that it is exposed to strong anthropogenic pressures, there were 14 species belonging to some threat category defined at the official red lists, reinforcing the importance of the Park for biodiversity conservation.