VASCULAR FLORA OF THE BARRA DO UNA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT RESERVE, PERUÍBE, SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL

Abstract

The restingas were the first environments to suffer from environmental degradation in the process of European colonization, as it was along the Brazilian coast that the first villages were installed in the sixteenth century, as well as the exploitation of natural resources, with emphasis on brazilwood Paubrasilia echinata, export product at the time, among other exploratory activities. Such occupations gave rise to most of the cities currently existing in the Brazilian coastal region to the detriment of the existing vegetation formations, restinga and mangroves. The Barra do Una Sustainable Development Reserve - RDSBU is a Conservation Unit of the group, created by Law n^o 14.982/2013, which established the Jureia-Itatins Mosaic of Conservation Units. In the RDSBU, 304 species were cataloged, distributed in 235 genera of 95 families, the richest being Fabaceae with 26 species, Asteraceae (25), Poaceae (14), Myrtaceae (12), Lamiaceae and Rubiaceae (10 species each), Arecaceae (nine species), Euphorbiaceae, Malpighiaceae and Orchidaceae (eight species each), Cyperaceae (seven species), Bromeliaceae, Malvaceae, Melastomataceae and Rutaceae (six species each). Among these, 65 exotic species were identified, many cultivated by the resident traditional population. Seven species are on official lists of endangered species, such as the heart of palm (Euterpe edulis), the pink cedar (Cedrela fissilis) and the caixeta (Tabebuia cassinoides), the latter in the endangered category (EN) for São Paulo. The results obtained increased and organized the data from sparse studies carried out in Barra do Una.