FLORA OF A SEMIDECIDUOUS MONTANE FOREST AT JATAÚBA, PERNAMBUCO

Abstract

A survey of the wood plants in a semideciduous montane forest, at Jataúba, Pernambuco, Brazil, was carried out. The floristic list was compared with those of another 14 montane forest in Northeast Brazil and with those of Atlantic and Amazonian forest, caatinga and cerrado. A total of 109 species were found at Jataúba but 43 were not identified to the species level. Nine species were not included in floristic lists of the other northeastern montane forest or those of any other formation. Forty four species had been recorded in other montane forest and only 15 of them had not been recorded in the other formations. Similarity with any single montane forest was low, with a maximum of 20 species in common with Jataúba. Similarity with the Atlantic forest (30 species in common) was greater than with the surrounding caatinga, which had less species in common (19) than cerrado (23 species), athough there are no neighboring cerrado areas. Similarity with Amazonia forests was low and all 5 species in common were also present in the Atlantic forest. Families with greatest number of species were Myrtaceae (12), Mimosaceae (7), Bignoniaceae, Caesalpiniaceae and Euphorbiaceae (6), Fabaceae, Rutaceae, Sapindaceae and Verbenaceae (4).

Keywords: Upland forest, semidecidous, floristic composition, northeast Brazil.