Magnoliophyta, restinga vegetation, state of Ceará, Brazil

Abstract

Sandy coastal plain (Restinga) vegetation is composed of the plant communities that grow on Quaternary Neosols along the entire Brazilian coast. Ceará state has a coastal extension of 578 km and lies totally within the semi-arid zone of northeastern Brazil. Here we present a checklist of the phanerogamic species found along the coast of Ceará that was compiled from surveys and collections found at the EAC herbarium (Fortaleza, Ceará). A total of 391 species distributed among 208 genera and 41 families were identified. The families with the greatest numbers of species were Fabaceae senso latu (130 species), Cyperaceae (51), Poaceae (47), Rubiaceae (27), Euphorbiaceae (19), Asteraceae (13), Bignoniaceae (11) and Malvaceae (12), representing over 78.77% of the species collected.