Floristic composition of the cerrado in the Pé-de-Gigante Reserve (Santa Rita do Passa Quatro, southeastern Brazil)

Abstract

We studied a 1225 ha area, composed mainly of cerrado, in Santa Rita do Passa Quatro, São Paulo State, southeastern Brazil (21°36-38'S, 47°36-39'W). In three cerrado physiognomies (campo cerrado -- a wooded savanna, cerrado sensu stricto -- a woodland, and cerradão -- a tall woodland), we collected all vascular plants in reproductive stage, and identified them to species level. We found 360 species, representing 236 genera and 69 families. The richest families were: Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Poaceae, and Rubiaceae. The savanna physiognomies were richer than the forest one. The ratio between herbaceous and woody species was approximately 2:1. We analysed the whole flora and its two components separately, woody and herbaceous, comparing them with other disjunct cerrado areas. We obtained similarity values (Sørensen index) from 0.47 to 0.81, which showed that the 3 diversity of the cerrado was higher in the herbaceous component than in the woody one.