Growing knowledge: an overview of Seed Plant diversity in Brazil

Abstract

An updated inventory of Brazilian seed plants is presented and offers important insights into the country’s biodiversity. This work started in 2010, with the publication of the Plants and Fungi Catalogue, and has been updated since by more than 430 specialists working online. Brazil is home to 32,086 native Angiosperms and 23 native Gymnosperms, showing an increase of 3% in its species richness in relation to 2010. The Amazon Rainforest is the richest Brazilian biome for Gymnosperms, while the Atlantic Rainforest is the richest one for Angiosperms. There was a considerable increment in the number of species and endemism rates for biomes, except for the Amazon that showed a decrease of 2.5% of recorded endemics. However, well over half of Brazillian seed plant species (57.4%) is endemic to this territory. The proportion of life-forms varies among different biomes: trees are more expressive in the Amazon and Atlantic Rainforest biomes while herbs predominate in the Pampa, and lianas are more expressive in the Amazon, Atlantic Rainforest, and Pantanal. This compilation serves not only to quantify Brazilian biodiversity, but also to highlight areas where there information is lacking and to provide a framework for the challenge faced in conserving Brazils unique and diverse flora.

Full text

Growing knowledge: an overview of Seed Plant diversity in Brazil
Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
http://rodriguesia.jbrj.gov.br
DOI: 10.1590/2175-7860201566411
The Brazil Flora Group
Recommended citation: BFG (2015).
This paper was compiled by Daniela C. Zappi1, Fabiana L. Ranzato Filardi, Paula Leitman, Vinícius C. Souza,
Bruno M.T. Walter, José R. Pirani, Marli P. Morim, Luciano P. Queiroz, Taciana B. Cavalcanti, Vidal F. Mansano
and Rafaela C. Forzza1
With contributions by: Abreu, Maria C.; Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro; Agra, Maria F.; Almeida Jr., Eduardo B.;
Almeida, Gracineide S.S.; Almeida, Rafael F.; Alves, Flávio M.; Alves, Marccus; Alves-Araujo, Anderson; Amaral,
Maria C.E.; Amorim, André M.; Amorim, Bruno; Andrade, Ivanilza M.; Andreata, Regina H.P.; Andrino, Caroline
O.; Anunciação, Elisete A.; Aona, Lidyanne Y.S.; Aranguren, Yani; Aranha Filho, João L.M.; Araújo, Andrea O.;
Araújo, Ariclenes A.M.; Araújo, Diogo; Arbo, María M.; Assis, Leandro; Assis, Marta C.; Assunção, Vivian A.; Athiê-
Souza, Sarah M.; Azevedo, Cecilia O.; Baitello, João B.; Barberena, Felipe F.V.A.; Barbosa, Maria R.V.; Barros,
Fábio; Barros, Lucas A.V.; Barros, Michel J.F.; Baumgratz, José F.A.; Bernacci, Luis C.; Berry, Paul E.; Bigio, Narcísio
C.; Biral, Leonardo; Bittrich, Volker; Borges, Rafael A.X.; Bortoluzzi, Roseli L.C.; Bove, Cláudia P.; Bovini, Massimo
G.; Braga, João M.A.; Braz, Denise M.; Bringel Jr., João B.A.; Bruniera, Carla P.; Buturi, Camila V.; Cabral, Elza;
Cabral, Fernanda N.; Caddah, Mayara K.; Caires, Claudenir S.; Calazans, Luana S.B.; Calió, Maria F.; Camargo,
Rodrigo A.; Campbell, Lisa; Canto-Dorow, Thais S.; Carauta, Jorge P.P.†; Cardiel, José M.; Cardoso, Domingos
B.O.S.; Cardoso, Leandro J.T.; Carneiro, Camila R.; Carneiro, Cláudia E.; Carneiro-Torres, Daniela S.; Carrijo,
Tatiana T.; Caruzo, Maria B.R.; Carvalho, Maria L.S.; Carvalho-Silva, Micheline; Castello, Ana C.D.; Cavalheiro,
Larissa; Cervi, Armando C.†; Chacon, Roberta G.; Chautems, Alain; Chiavegatto, Berenice; Chukr, Nádia S.; Coelho,
Alexa A.O.P.; Coelho, Marcus A.N.; Coelho, Rubens L.G.; Cordeiro, Inês; Cordula, Elizabeth; Cornejo, Xavier;
Côrtes, Ana L.A.; Costa, Andrea F.; Costa, Fabiane N.; Costa, Jorge A.S.; Costa, Leila C.; Costa-e-Silva, Maria
B.; Costa-Lima, James L.; Cota, Maria R.C.; Couto, Ricardo S.; Daly, Douglas C.; De Stefano, Rodrigo D.; De
Toni, Karen; Dematteis, Massimiliano; Dettke, Greta A.; Di Maio, Fernando R.; Dórea, Marcos C.; Duarte, Marília
C.; Dutilh, Julie H.A.; Dutra, Valquíria F.; Echternacht, Lívia; Eggers, Lilian; Esteves, Gerleni; Ezcurra, Cecilia; Falcão
Junior, Marcus J.A.; Feres, Fabíola; Fernandes, José M.; Ferreira, D.M.C.; Ferreira, Fabrício M.; Ferreira, Gabriel E.;
Ferreira, Priscila P.A.; Ferreira, Silvana C.; Ferrucci, Maria S.; Fiaschi, Pedro; Filgueiras, Tarciso S.; Firens, Marcela;
Flores, Andreia S.; Forero, Enrique; Forster, Wellington; Fortuna-Perez, Ana P.; Fortunato, Reneé H.; Fraga, Cláudio
N.; França, Flávio; Francener, Augusto; Freitas, Joelcio; Freitas, Maria F.; Fritsch, Peter W.; Furtado, Samyra G.;
Gaglioti, André L.; Garcia, Flávia C.P.; Germano Filho, Pedro; Giacomin, Leandro; Gil, André S.B.; Giulietti, Ana
M.; Godoy, Silvana A.P. ; Goldenberg, Renato; Gomes da Costa, Géssica A.; Gomes, Mário; Gomes-Klein, Vera
L.; Gonçalves, Eduardo Gomes; Graham, Shirley; Groppo, Milton; Guedes. Juliana S.; Guimarães, Leonardo R.S.;
Guimarães, Paulo J.F.; Guimarães, Elsie F.; Gutierrez, Raul; Harley, Raymond; Hassemer, Gustavo; Hattori, Eric
K.O.; Hefler, Sonia M.; Heiden, Gustavo; Henderson, Andrew; Hensold, Nancy; Hiepko, Paul; Holanda, Ana S.S.;
Iganci, João R.V.; Imig, Daniela C.; Indriunas, Alexandre; Jacques, Eliane L.; Jardim, Jomar G.; Kamer, Hiltje M.;
Kameyama, Cíntia; Kinoshita, Luiza S.; Kirizawa, Mizué; Klitgaard, Bente B.; Koch, Ingrid; Koschnitzke, Cristiana;
Krauss, Nathália P.; Kriebel, Ricardo; Kuntz, Juliana; Larocca, João; Leal, Eduardo S.; Lewis, Gwilym P.; Lima, Carla

1086 The Brazil Flora Group
Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
T.; Lima, Haroldo C.; Lima, Itamar B.; Lima, Laíce F.G.; Lima, Laura C.P.; Lima, Leticia R.; Lima, Luís F.P.; Lima,
Rita B.; Lírio, Elton J.; Liro, Renata M.; Lleras, Eduardo†; Lobão, Adriana; Loeuille, Benoit; Lohmann, Lúcia G.;
Loiola, Maria I.B.; Lombardi, Julio A.; Longhi-Wagner, Hilda M.; Lopes, Rosana C.; Lorencini, Tiago S.; Louzada,
Rafael B.; Lovo, Juliana; Lozano, Eduardo D.; Lucas, Eve; Ludtke, Raquel; Luz, Christian L.; Maas, Paul; Machado,
Anderson F.P.; Macias, Leila; Maciel, Jefferson R.; Magenta, Mara A.G.; Mamede, Maria C.H.; Manoel, Evelin A.;
Marchioretto, Maria S.; Marques, Juliana S.; Marquete, Nilda; Marquete, Ronaldo; Martinelli, Gustavo; Martins da
Silva, Regina C.V.; Martins, Ângela B.; Martins, Erika R.; Martins, Márcio L.L.; Martins, Milena V.; Martins, Renata
C.; Matias, Ligia Q.; Maya-L., Carlos A.; Mayo, Simon; Mazine, Fiorella; Medeiros, Debora; Medeiros, Erika S.;
Medeiros, Herison; Medeiros, João D.; Meireles, José E.; Mello-Silva, Renato; Melo, Aline; Melo, André L.; Melo,
Efigênia; Melo, José I.M.; Menezes, Cristine G.; Menini Neto, Luiz; Mentz, Lilian A.; Mezzonato, A.C.; Michelangeli,
Fabián A.; Milward-de-Azevedo, Michaele A.; Miotto, Silvia T.S.; Miranda, Vitor F.O.; Mondin, Cláudio A.; Monge,
Marcelo; Monteiro, Daniele; Monteiro, Raquel F.; Moraes, Marta D.; Moraes, Pedro L.R.; Mori, Scott A.; Mota, Aline
C.; Mota, Nara F.O.; Moura, Tania M.; Mulgura, Maria; Nakajima, Jimi N.; Nardy, Camila; Nascimento Júnior, José
E.; Noblick, Larry; Nunes, Teonildes S.; O’Leary, Nataly; Oliveira, Arline S.; Oliveira, Caetano T.; Oliveira, Juliana
A.; Oliveira, Luciana S.D.; Oliveira, Maria L.A.A.; Oliveira, Regina C.; Oliveira, Renata S.; Oliveira, Reyjane P.;
Paixão-Souza, Bruno; Parra, Lara R.; Pasini, Eduardo; Pastore, José F.B.; Pastore, Mayara; Paula-Souza, Juliana;
Pederneiras, Leandro C.; Peixoto, Ariane L.; Pelissari, Gisela; Pellegrini, Marco O.O.; Pennington, Toby; Perdiz,
Ricardo O.; Pereira, Anna C.M.; Pereira, Maria S.; Pereira, Rodrigo A.S.; Pessoa, Clenia; Pessoa, Edlley M.; Pessoa,
Maria C.R.; Pinto, Luiz J.S.; Pinto, Rafael B.; Pontes, Tiago A.; Prance, Ghillean T.; Proença, Carolyn; Profice,
Sheila R.; Pscheidt, Allan C.; Queiroz, George A.; Queiroz, Rubens T.; Quinet, Alexandre; Rainer, Heimo; Ramos,
Eliana; Rando, Juliana G.; Rapini, Alessandro; Reginato, Marcelo; Reis, Ilka P.; Reis, Priscila A.; Ribeiro, André R.O.;
Ribeiro, José E.L.S.; Riina, Ricarda; Ritter, Mara R.; Rivadavia, Fernando; Rocha, Antônio E.S.; Rocha, Maria J.R.;
Rodrigues, Izabella M.C.; Rodrigues, Karina F.; Rodrigues, Rodrigo S.; Rodrigues, Rodrigo S.; Rodrigues, Vinícius
T.; Rodrigues, William; Romaniuc Neto, Sérgio; Romão, Gerson O.; Romero, Rosana; Roque, Nádia; Rosa, Patrícia;
Rossi, Lúcia; Sá, Cyl F.C.; Saavedra, Mariana M.; Saka, Mariana; Sakuragui, Cássia M.; Salas, Roberto M.; Sales,
Margareth F.; Salimena, Fatima R.G.; Sampaio, Daniela; Sancho, Gisela; Sano, Paulo T.; Santos, Alessandra; Santos,
Élide P.; Santos, Juliana S.; Santos, Marianna R.; Santos-Gonçalves, Ana P.; Santos-Silva, Fernanda; São-Mateus,
Wallace; Saraiva, Deisy P.; Saridakis, Dennis P.; Sartori, Ângela L.B.; Scalon, Viviane R.; Schneider, Ângelo; Sebastiani,
Renata; Secco, Ricardo S.; Senna, Luisa; Senna-Valle, Luci; Shirasuna, Regina T.; Silva Filho, Pedro J.S.; Silva,
Anádria S.; Silva, Christian; Silva, Genilson A.R.; Silva, Gisele O.; Silva, Márcia C.R.; Silva, Marcos J.; Silva, Marcos
J.; Silva, Otávio L.M.; Silva, Rafaela A.P.; Silva, Saura R.; Silva, Tania R.S.; Silva-Gonçalves, Kelly C.; Silva-Luz,
Cíntia L.; Simão-Bianchini, Rosângela; Simões, André O.; Simpson, Beryl; Siniscalchi, Carolina M.; Siqueira Filho,
José A.; Siqueira, Carlos E.; Siqueira, Josafá C.; Smith, Nathan P.; Snak, Cristiane; Soares Neto, Raimundo L.;
Soares, Kelen P.; Soares, Marcos V.B.; Soares, Maria L.; Soares, Polyana N.; Sobral, Marcos; Sodré, Rodolfo C.;
Somner, Genise V.; Sothers, Cynthia A.; Sousa, Danilo J.L.; Souza, Elnatan B.; Souza, Élvia R.; Souza, Marcelo;
Souza, Maria L.D.R.; Souza-Buturi, Fátima O.; Spina, Andréa P.; Stapf, María N.S.; Stefano, Marina V.; Stehmann,
João R.; Steinmann, Victor; Takeuchi, Cátia; Taylor, Charlotte M.; Taylor, Nigel P.; Teles, Aristônio M.; Temponi,
Lívia G.; Terra-Araujo, Mário H.; Thode, Veronica; Thomas, W.Wayt; Tissot-Squalli, Mara L.; Torke, Benjamin
M.; Torres, Roseli B.; Tozzi, Ana M.G.A.; Trad, Rafaela J.; Trevisan, Rafael; Trovó, Marcelo; Valls, José F.M.; Vaz,

Seed Plant diversity in Brazil.
Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
1087
Introduction
The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation
(GSPC), adopted by the Conference of the Parties of
the Convention’s signatory countries on Biological
Diversity (CBD), held at The Hague, Holland, in
2002, set 16 targets to be achieved globally by
2010. The first target, vital to the completion of all
others, was the development of a functional, widely
Angela M.S.F.; Versieux, Leonardo; Viana, Pedro L.; Vianna Filho, Marcelo D.M.; Vieira, Ana O.S.; Vieira, Diego
D.; Vignoli-Silva, Márcia; Vilar, Thaisa; Vinhos, Franklin; Wallnöfer, Bruno; Wanderley, Maria G.L.; Wasshausen,
Dieter; Watanabe, Maurício T.C.; Weigend, Maximilian; Welker, Cassiano A.D.; Woodgyer, Elizabeth; Xifreda, Cecilia
C.; Yamamoto, Kikyo; Zanin, Ana; Zenni, Rafael D.; Zickel, Carmem S.
Abstract
An updated inventory of Brazilian seed plants is presented and offers important insights into the country’s
biodiversity. This work started in 2010, with the publication of the Plants and Fungi Catalogue, and has been
updated since by more than 430 specialists working online. Brazil is home to 32,086 native Angiosperms and
23 native Gymnosperms, showing an increase of 3% in its species richness in relation to 2010. The Amazon
Rainforest is the richest Brazilian biome for Gymnosperms, while the Atlantic Rainforest is the richest one for
Angiosperms. There was a considerable increment in the number of species and endemism rates for biomes, except
for the Amazon that showed a decrease of 2.5% of recorded endemics. However, well over half of Brazillian seed
plant species (57.4%) is endemic to this territory. The proportion of life-forms varies among different biomes:
trees are more expressive in the Amazon and Atlantic Rainforest biomes while herbs predominate in the Pampa,
and lianas are more expressive in the Amazon, Atlantic Rainforest, and Pantanal. This compilation serves not only
to quantify Brazilian biodiversity, but also to highlight areas where there information is lacking and to provide a
framework for the challenge faced in conserving Brazil’s unique and diverse flora.
Key words: Angiosperms, biomes, endemism, Gymnosperms, life-forms.
Resumo
Um levantamento atualizado das plantas com sementes e análises relevantes acerca desta biodiversidade são apresentados.
Este trabalho se iniciou em 2010 com a publicação do Catálogo de Plantas e Fungos e, desde então vem sendo atualizado
por mais de 430 especialistas trabalhando online. O Brasil abriga atualmente 32.086 espécies nativas de Angiospermas
e 23 espécies nativas de Gimnospermas e estes novos dados mostram um aumento de 3% da riqueza em relação a 2010.
A Amazônia é o Domínio Fitogeográfico com o maior número de espécies de Gimnospermas, enquanto que a Floresta
Atlântica possui a maior riqueza de Angiospermas. Houve um crescimento considerável no número de espécies e nas
taxas de endemismo para a maioria dos Domínios (Caatinga, Cerrado, Floresta Atlântica, Pampa e Pantanal), com
exceção da Amazônia que apresentou uma diminuição de 2,5% de endemicidade. Entretanto, a maior parte das plantas
com sementes que ocorrem no Brasil (57,4%) é endêmica deste território. A proporção de formas de vida varia de acordo
com os diferentes Domínios: árvores são mais expressivas na Amazônia e Floresta Atlântica do que nos outros biomas,
ervas são dominantes no Pampa e as lianas apresentam riqueza expressiva na Amazônia, Floresta Atlântica e Pantanal.
Este trabalho não só quantifica a biodiversidade brasileira, mas também indica as lacunas de conhecimento e o desafio a
ser enfrentado para a conservação desta flora.
Palavras-chave: Angiospermas, Domínios, endemismo, formas de vida, Gimnospermas.
1 Authors for correspondence: d.zappi@kew.org, rafaela@jbrj.gov.br
For the complete list of authors, institutions and taxonomic groups see supplementary material <http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1531952>
DOI: 10.1590/2175-7860201566411.
accessible list of all known plant species, as a first
step towards a complete World Flora. In 2008, the
Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro was designated
by the Ministry of Environment to coordinate the
preparation of the Species List of the Brazilian
Flora. The Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro
invited botanists from several Brazilian institutions
to constitute the project’s Steering Committee.

1088 The Brazil Flora Group
Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
Target 1 of the GSPC was reached by Brazil in
2010 with the launch of the first on-line version
of the List of Flora of Brazil and the publication
of Plants and Fungi Catalogue.
Awareness of the threats faced by the world’s
biodiversity has risen considerably since the 1980s
(Myers et al. 2000; Mittermeier et al. 2004). Brazil
is at the center of this discussion, as it includes
two of the 34 recognized global hotspots, housing
a larger number of plant species than any other
country in the world (Mittermeier et al. 2004;
Forzza et al. 2012). With an economy strongly
driven by large scale agriculture, mining of its
natural resources, and growing urban population,
large tracts of the country’s natural reserves are
being depleted, even before our knowledge can
ascertain what is being lost.
The Flora brasiliensis (Martius et al. 1833;
Urban 1906) treatment listed 19,958 species of
fungi, algae, mosses and vascular plants, including
18,857 seed plants. After that, botanical knowledge
expanded inordinately as new species were
described and names were synonymized through
floristic and monographic accounts. There have
been both conservative and generous estimates for
the size of the seed plant component of the Brazilian
Flora (Forzza et al. 2012), and, while the 2010
list, dealing only with described plant diversity,
did not reach the more conservative published
estimate (35,664 species) and is very far from the
exaggerated (45,015 species) ones, it still surpassed
the number of plants known thus far in any other
country in the world. The Brazilian Catalogue of
Plants and Fungi reported 31,188 species of seed
plants, distributed in 2,818 genera and 227 families
of Angiosperms (Forzza et al. 2010) and 23 species
in six genera and five families of Gymnosperms
(Souza 2010).
Five years have elapsed from the first
release of the Brazilian on-line list and the
addition of new facilities have enabled botanists
to contribute further information regarding species
habit, substrate and vegetation types, as well as
continuing to refine the existing list and adding
new records and taxa. Here we provide a snapshot
of the changes to the Brazilian List during this
period, and also analyse new data that have come
to light at the end of this process, providing a fresh
insight into seed plant species numbers, endemism
and distribution patterns, as well as proportions
of life-forms and richness throughout the main
habitats of this megadiverse country.
Methods
The methodology followed the principles
established for all plant and fungi groups
catalogued by Forzza et al. (2010). The minimum
Species2000 fields were adopted and increased
with others (geopolitical divisions, biomes etc.)
that were interesting to feature for the Brazilian
context, and the design and development of
an information system that allowed instant
management, collaborative updating of the data
and generation of the 2010 Catalogue (Forzza
et al. 2010). The work took place in two phases.
The first one included analysis, harmonization
and importation of diverse state and regional lists
and taxonomic treatments already available (see
Forzza et al. 2010 for a complete list), while the
second phase was the revision and updating of the
information relative to each taxon made directly
on-line by 334 specialists.
From 2011 the contributors continued
with the task of including new records and
modifying existent ones as more scientific data
became available. Yearly releases of the system
comprised new fields and dictionaries to include
data regarding life-forms, substrate and vegetation
type for each taxon that needed to be completed,
and a new functionality to include images meant
that the researchers could, from that point
onwards, choose images from herbarium records
and make available their own images of living
plants. At the end of 2014 the Angiosperm and
Gymnosperm coordinators complemented data
in families where data were still missing. During
the three first months of 2015 a data evaluation
process generated a series of reports indicating
inconsistencies aimed to help the 437 contributors
to further clean the data. The corrections were
added in March 2015. For more information
about the final dataset see supplementary material
<http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1538647>
- DOI: 10.1590/2175-7860201566411.
From the start of the project, the importance
to distinguish between native and exotic species
was highlighted, and the contributing specialists
had to complete an ‘Origin’ field with the following
options: native, naturalized and cultivated. Moro
et al. (2012) clearly states different categories
for exotic species and analyses the discrepancies
of treatment these species receive from different
taxonomists in Forzza et al. (2010). It was never
the intention comprehensively list all species

Seed Plant diversity in Brazil.
Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
1089
cultivated in Brazil. Moreover, for the purpose of the
statistics presented in this paper, all analyses apart from
the initial overview section were based only on the
numbers of native plants. However, data from Forzza
et al. (2010) may take into account some non-native
species, influencing the comparisons performed within
this article.
The term endemic, meaning that a taxon is
unique to a defined geographic location, has been
used at different levels (endemic to Brazil, endemic to
one of Brazil’s Biomes, a state or a vegetation type).
The words endemic and restricted, or with restricted
distribution, were used to analyse taxa in relation to
where they occur, for instance, Parodia buiningii
(Buxb.) N.P.Taylor (Cactaceae) is restricted to the state
of Rio Grande do Sul and to the Pampa in Brazil, but
it also occurs in Argentina, therefore it is not endemic
of Brazil.
As one of the objectives of this work was to
examine the effect of the continued input by specialists
into the on-line Brazilian List system (Lista de Espécies
da Flora do Brasil 2015), comparative gross percentage
calculations highlighting growth and decrease in
species number were calculated. These were based on
the species number difference between 2015 and 2010
divided by the totals found in 2010. These are presented
alongside the total percentages in the results tables.
The term Biome used in the project and in the
results and discussion of this paper are equivalent
to the six Phytogeographic Domains, or Domínios
Fitogeográficos defined by IBGE (2004).
Results
Overall
More than 110,000 names were included in
the system by 2015, while the original database in
2010 had 94,144 names (Tab. 1). All 69 names of
Gymnosperms, as well as the further six names added
by 2015, were checked (Tab. 1). The positive balance
of new Angiosperm names included in the system in
five years was 9,274 (11.6% of the initial total). The
number of checked names, 85,400, grew in balance
by 20,033, or 30.6% of the initial total of 65,369 in
2010, thus today the Brazilian list has over 95.5% of
its Angiosperm names checked by specialists (Tab. 1).
Wherever possible, the checked names either marked as
accepted names or as synonyms linked to an accepted
name (Tab. 2). The present number of unplaced
names of Angiosperms is 633, and a single name for
Gymnosperms (Tab. 2).
At present, seed plant diversity totals 32,109
accepted native species (23 of which are Gymnosperms)
belonging to 2,746 genera and 229 families (Tab. 2).
With the addition of 921 native species between 2010
and 2015, the species number figure grew 3% in the
last five years (Tab. 3). Overall endemism figures
have grown proportionally more than the number of
accepted native species, from 17,632 in 2010 (56.5%)
to 18,423 (57.4%) in 2015, with the addition of 791
endemic species, a gross increase of 4.5% (Tab. 3).
The Brazilian Red List (Martinelli & Moraes 2013)
includes 1,974 species (1,772 endemic and 202 not
endemic to Brazil) that were currently listed under one
of these threat categories: critically endangered - CR,
endangered - EN, and vulnerable - VU (Tab. 4).
Top 10 families
The top 10 families Fabaceae, Orchidaceae,
Asteraceae, Rubiaceae, Melastomataceae,
Bromeliaceae, Poaceae, Myrtaceae, Euphorbiaceae
and Malvaceae contribute 15,404 to the total number
of Angiosperm species (47.2%). The total species
contribution of these families appears to be more
significant in terms of endemism, contributing 9,593
endemic species, or 62.3% of the endemism at the
country level (Tab. 5). The increase found for the total
species number (4.3%) is lower than the endemism
difference of 6.8% found for the top 10 families.
Nine of the ten largest families coincide with
those found in the Catalogue (Forzza et al. 2010),
the exception being Apocynaceae (down 5 species
from 2010 - now with 754 species, of which 403 are
endemic), that was surpassed by Malvaceae in 2015
(Tab. 5). Apart from Poaceae, where there was a
decrease of 120 species, the general increase found was
between 2.1% (Rubiaceae) and 21.5% (Euphorbiaceae)
for the largest families. The remaining 214 families
that occur in Brazil have between one and 756 species.
In terms of endemism, the gross increase was
between 1% (Orchidaceae) and 26.6% (Euphorbiaceae),
but in general endemism grew between 2.2%
(Asteraceae) and 8.7% (Poaceae), with Myrtaceae
(12.7%) and Bromeliaceae (14%) reaching slightly
higher values.
Top 30 genera
The 30 largest genera of Brazilian Angiosperms
add up to 6,380 species, representing 19.5% of the
total diversity of the group. The contribution of these
genera appears to be proportionally more significant in
terms of endemism, contributing with 4,485 endemic
species, or 24.3% of total endemism (Tab. 6).
The order in which the top 30 largest genera
appeared in Forzza et al. (2010) has changed

1090 The Brazil Flora Group
Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
Table 1 – Total number of names from the Brazilian List system, name totals for Angiosperms and Gymnosperms and proportion between the names analysed by specialists
(‘checked names’) in 2010 and 2015. *Data includes all specific and infraspecific names of native, naturalized and cultivated species of the algae, fungi, and plants that
occur and that does not occur in Brazil, but are recorded by the system (<http://www.floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br>).
GroupName total
2015*
Checked
names 2015
Checked
names % 2015
Name total
2010*
Checked names
2010
Checked names
%2010
Growth rate of
total names %
Growth rate for
checked names %
Plants & Fungi 110,837 104,352 94.1 94,144 78,720 83.6 17.7 32.6
Angiosperms 89,443 85,400 95.5 80,169 65,369 81.5 11.6 30.6
Gymnosperms 75 75 100 69 69 100 8.7 8.7
Table 2 – Family, genus and species diversity for Angiosperms and Gymnosperms from the Brazilian List system 2015. The lower lines indicate native Angiosperms,
Gymnosperms and total (excluding naturalized and cultivated taxa). Caption: #11 naturalized and one cultivated families. ##170 naturalized and 60 cultivated genera.
###543 naturalized and 203 cultivated species. *One naturalized family. **One naturalized genus (Pinus). ***Seven naturalized species. Accepted names, synonyms, and
unplaced names were analysed by specialists (‘checked names’ – see Table 1).
Group Families Genera Endemic genera Species Endemic species % Endemic species Accepted names Synonyms Unplaced name
Angiosperms 236#2,970## 346 32,832### 18,421 - 36,520 48,247 633
Gymnosperms 6*7** 0 30*** 2 - 30 44 1
Total 242 2,977 346 32,862 18,423 - 36,550 48,291 634
Native species 40.8% 53.9% 0.7%
Angiosperms 224 2,740 346 32,086 18,421 57.4 - - -
Gymnosperms 5 6 0 23 2 8.7 - - -
Total 229 2,746 346 32,109 18,423 57.4 - - -
Table 3 – Total and endemic number of native and naturalized Angiosperms and Gymnosperms.
GroupSpecies total
2015
Endemic
species 2015
% Endemic
species 2015
Species total
2010
Endemic
species 2010
% Endemic
species 2010
Total species
growth %
Endemic species
growth %
Angiosperms 32,629 18,421 57.4 31,162 17,630 56.6 3.0 4.5
Gymnosperms 30 2 8.7 26 2 7.7 -11.5 0
Total 32,659 18,423 57.4 31,188 17,632 56.5 3.0 4.5

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1091
Table 4 – Angiosperms and Gymnosperms* species analysed according to threat categories (Vulnerable, Endangered and Critically endangered) according to the
Brazilian Red List (Martinelli & Moraes 2013). Numbers distributed according to endemism**. Caption: *Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze, not endemic,
Endangered. **Endemic to Brazil: species endemic to Brazil but that are distributed in more than one region; Regional endemic: species endemic to Brazil and res-
tricted to a single region; Local endemic: endemic to Brazil and restricted to a single state; Not endemic: species not endemic to Brazil and with wide distribution;
Regionally restricted: species not endemic to Brazil but with Brazilian distribution restricted to a single region; Locally restricted: species not endemic to Brazil but
found in a single Brazilian state.
Threat categories Endemic to Brazil Regional endemic Local endemic Not endemic and with
wide distribution
Not endemic but
regionally restricted
Not endemic but locally
restricted
Vulnerable 405 262 154 69 27 11
Endangered 960 782 576 106 67 36
Critically endangered 407 366 332 27 26 18
Total 1,772 1,410 1,062 202 12 65
Table 5 – Ten top diverse Angiosperms families from Brazil, showing native species total and endemic.
Families Species
total 2015
Endemic
species 2015
% Endemic
species 2015
2010
Rank
Species total
2010
Endemic
species 2010
% Endemic
species 2010
Total species
growth %
Endemic species
growth %
Fabaceae 2,756 1,507 54.7 1 2,694 1,458 54.1 2.3 3.4
Orchidaceae 2,548 1,636 64.2 2 2,419 1,620 67.1 5.3 1.0
Asteraceae 2,013 1,317 65.4 3 1,966 1,289 65.6 2.4 2.2
Rubiaceae 1,375 726 52.8 4 1,347 695 51.6 2.1 4.5
Melastomataceae 1,367 894 65.4 5 1,312 844 64.3 4.2 5.9
Bromeliaceae 1,343 1,174 87.4 7 1,207 1,030 85.3 11.3 14.0
Poaceae 1,281 498 38.9 6 1,401 458 32.7 -8.6 8.7
Myrtaceae 1,030 797 77.4 8 928 707 76.2 11.0 12.7
Euphorbiaceae 934 638 68.3 9 769 504 65.5 21.5 26.6
Malvaceae 757 406 53.6 12 731 379 52.1 3.6 7.1
Total 15,404 9,593 62.3 - 14,774 8,984 60.8 4.3 6.8

1092 The Brazil Flora Group
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noticeably, with Eugenia overtaking Paepalanthus
and Mimosa, and Paepalanthus falling to the third
position, Croton climbing from 16th to 4th position,
Psychotria falling from 6th to 10th position, Leandra
from 10th to 14th, Vriesea moving from 15th to 11th and
Baccharis from 24th to 17th position. Dyckia, Pavonia
and Anthurium reached the top 30 largest genera,
while Inga, Justicia and, more dramatically, Hyptis,
were overtaken.
While Croton was the genus with the largest
increase in number of species, from 186 to 316 species
(Tab. 6), other three amongst the most speciose genera
have increased by around 20% or more: Baccharis
(from 149 to 178 species), Dyckia (from 115 to
141 species) and Myrcia (from 215 to 260 species).
The genera that were adjusted downwards are
Paepalanthus (from 357 to 338 species), Psychotria
(264 to 252) and Leandra (213 to 206).
The proportion of endemic species within
these genera followed, in general, the increases
or decreases in species number. However, Croton
had a more dramatic endemism increase (86.7%)
compared to species richness growth of 69.9% and,
in Rhynchospora, endemism increased by 45.5%
for a species growth of 8.1%. In relative terms, the
percentage of endemic species of Rhynchospora
moved from 24.3% of the species to 32.6%.
Amongst the exceptions to this trend,
Philodendron species increased 7.7% from 156 to
168 species, while the endemism figure was adjusted
from 127 to only 79 species, falling 37.8%, from
81.4% to 47% endemic (Tab. 6). Despite the fact
that the species numbers increased for Baccharis,
the proportion of endemism has slightly decreased
(-2.91%). The genus Piper, with a slight increase in
the number of species, had a gross endemic species
decrease of 6.3%. While the ten most diverse families
presented a slight increase in the level of endemism
when compared to the list produced in 2010 (Tab.
5), the 30 largest genera practically maintained their
proportional contribution in percentages: 70.2% in
2010 and 70.3% in 2015 (Tab. 6).
Biomes
Seed plant occurrence in the Brazilian biomes
is illustrated in Figure 3. While for the Gymnosperms
(Tab. 7) the Amazon Rainforest is the Brazilian
biome with the highest number of species, for
Angiosperms (Tab. 8, Fig. 1) the highest species
number is found in the Atlantic Rainforest, with
15,001 native species of which 7,432 (49.5%), are
endemic to this biome, followed by the Cerrado,
12,097 total species with 4,252 (35.1%) endemic;
Amazon Rainforest (11,896 total species, with
1,900 (16%) endemic); Caatinga (4,657 total
species, with 913 (19.7%) endemic); Pampa
(1,685 total species, with 102 (6.1%) endemic);
and Pantanal (1,277 total species, with 54 (4.2%)
endemic species).
The increment of species between 2010
and 2015 was proportionally higher for the two
biomes with least species (Fig. 1, Tab. 8), totalling
44.3% (392 species) for the Pantanal and 25.3%
(340 species) for the Pampa. The Caatinga had
an increase of 7.8% (337 species), which was a
similar increase to the Atlantic Rainforest (7.4% or
1,029 species). The Cerrado gained an additional
712 species (6.3% increase), and the Amazon
Rainforest, with 547 species added since 2010, had
the smallest increase (4.8%).
The figures for endemism per biome followed
the growth trend for the Pantanal (8 more endemic
species, or 17.4% increase), Pampa (26 more
endemic species, 34.2% increase), and Caatinga (169
more endemic species, 22.7% increase). Meanwhile
the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado had moderate
growth of endemism numbers, with respectively 418
and 102, an equivalent of a 6% and 2.5% increase.
The Amazon Rainforest’s recorded endemism
decreased, with 48 less endemic species than it had
in 2010, a decrease of 2.5%. In relative terms, from
2015, the endemism in the Amazon region represents
16.1% of the total species (Tab. 8).
Each biome was analysed according
to its top ten Angiosperm families (Tab. 9)
and, of the overall top ten families (see item
Figure 1 – Angiosperm species number per biome,
with total numbers of species in 2010 and 2015, and
endemic species in 2015.

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1093
Table 6 – Comparison between the 30 most diverse Angiosperm genera.
Genera Families Species
total 2015
Endemic
species 2015
Endemic
species % 2015
2010
Rank
Species total
2010
Endemic
species 2010
Endemic species
% 2010
Total species
growth %
Endemic species
growth %
Eugenia Myrtaceae 387 302 78.0 2 356 274 77.1 8.7 10.2
Mimosa Fabaceae 358 265 74.0 3 323 244 75.5 10.8 8.6
Paepalanthus Eriocaulaceae 338 323 96.6 1 357 339 95.1 -5.3 -4.7
Croton Euphorbiaceae 316 252 79.8 16 186 135 72.6 69.9 86.7
Piper Piperaceae 288 179 62.2 4 282 191 67.5 2.1 -6.3
Miconia Melastomataceae 282 125 44.3 5 276 121 43.8 2.2 3.3
Solanum Solanaceae 270 133 49.3 7 258 127 49.2 4.7 4.7
Myrcia Myrtaceae 260 207 79.7 9 215 168 78.1 20.9 23.2
Chamaecrista Fabaceae 256 207 80.9 8 253 202 79.8 1.2 2.5
Psychotria Rubiaceae 251 142 56.6 6 264 137 51.9 -4.9 3.6
Vriesea Bromeliaceae 219 208 95.0 15 194 186 95.8 12.9 11.8
Begonia Begoniaceae 212 186 87.7 11 208 184 88.4 1.9 1.1
Paspalum Poaceae 209 75 35.9 13 202 72 35.6 3.5 4.2
Leandra Melastomataceae 206 166 80.6 10 213 167 78.4 -3.3 -0.6
Mikania Asteraceae 203 142 69.9 14 198 140 70.7 2.5 1.4
Aechmea Bromeliaceae 184 159 86.4 17 172 141 82.1 7.0 12.8
Baccharis Asteraceae 178 115 64.6 24 149 95 64.1 19.5 21.1
Xyris Xyridaceae 174 133 76.4 18 167 127 76.1 4.2 4.7
Ocotea Lauraceae 172 112 65.1 21 155 95 61.3 11.0 17.9
Philodendron Araceae 168 79 47.0 20 156 127 81.4 7.7 -37.8
Tibouchina Melastomataceae 166 145 87.3 23 150 131 87.3 10.7 10.7
Peperomia Piperaceae 164 103 62.8 19 159 110 69.2 3.1 -6.4
Habenaria Orchidaceae 153 95 62.1 22 153 96 63.1 0.0 -1.0
Rhynchospora Cyperaceae 147 48 32.6 25 136 33 24.3 8.1 45.5
Passiflora Passifloraceae 141 83 58.9 28 129 83 64.3 9.3 0.0
Dyckia Bromeliaceae 141 128 90.8 - 115 99 86.1 22.6 29.3
Dioscorea Dioscoreaceae 136 103 75.7 27 130 94 72.3 4.6 9.6

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Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
Genera Families Species
total 2015
Endemic
species 2015
Endemic
species % 2015
2010
Rank
Species total
2010
Endemic
species 2010
Endemic species
% 2010
Total species
growth %
Endemic species
growth %
Pavonia Malvaceae 136 87 64.1 - 123 76 61.8 10.6 14.5
Epidendrum Orchidaceae 134 80 59.7 26 133 81 61.0 0.8 -1.2
Anthurium Araceae 131 103 78.6 - 120 91 75.8 9.2 13.2
Total - 6,380 4,485 70.3 - 5,932 4,166 70.2 7.6 7.7
Table 7 – Gymnosperm species number per biome.
Biomes Species total 2015 Species total 2010
Amazon Rainforest 16 16
Cerrado 6 6
Atlantic Rainforest 3 4
Caatinga 2 2
Pampa 2 1
Pantanal 0 0
Table 8 – Angiosperm species numbers per biome.
Biome Species
total 2015
Endemic
species 2015
Endemic species
% 2015
Species total
2010
Endemic species
2010
Endemic species
% 2010
Total species
growth %
Endemic species
growth %
Atlantic Rainforest 15,001 7,432 49.5 13,972 7,014 50.2 7.4 6.0
Cerrado 12,097 4,252 35.1 11,384 4,150 36.5 6.3 2.5
Amazon Rainforest 11,896 1,900 16.1 11,349 1,948 17.2 4.8 -2.5
Caatinga 4,657 913 19.7 4,320 744 17.2 7.8 22.7
Pampa 1,685 102 6.1 1,345 76 5.7 25.3 34.2
Pantanal 1,277 54 4.2 885 46 5.2 44.3 17.4

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1095
Table 9 – Ten top Angiosperms families per biome.
Atlantic Rainforest Cerrado Amazon Rainforest Caatinga Pampa Pantanal
Orchidaceae (1,574) Asteraceae (1,216) Fabaceae (1,119) Fabaceae (605) Asteraceae (299) Poaceae (162)
Fabaceae (964) Fabaceae (1,207) Orchidaceae (882) Poaceae (282) Poaceae (266) Fabaceae (153)
Bromeliaceae (921) Orchidaceae (727) Rubiaceae (728) Asteraceae (284) Cyperaceae (141) Malvaceae (70)
Asteraceae (885) Poaceae (648) Melastomataceae (495) Euphorbiaceae (232) Fabaceae (127) Asteraceae (67)
Poaceae (734) Melastomataceae (484) Poaceae (440) Rubiaceae (168) Iridaceae (44) Cyperaceae (58)
Myrtaceae (710) Eriocaulaceae (461) Apocynaceae (299) Cyperaceae (163) Solanaceae (44) Bignoniaceae(45)
Melastomataceae (582) Rubiaceae (406) Cyperaceae (288) Malvaceae (156) Rubiaceae (42) Sapindaceae (41)
Rubiaceae (564) Euphorbiaceae (386) Annonaceae (287) Apocynaceae (131) Convolvulaceae (36) Euphorbiaceae (35)
Apocynaceae (367) Malvaceae (334) Euphorbiaceae (282) Melastomataceae (129) Cactaceae (35) Rubiaceae (34)
Euphorbiaceae (327) Apocynaceae (293) Araceae (270) Orchidaceae (127) Amaryllidaceae (34) Malpighiaceae (25)
Table 10 – Angiosperm species numbers per Region with number of endemics.
Region Species total 2015 Endemic species 2015 Endemic species % 2015 Species total 2010
North 12,414 1,684 13.6 12,127
Northeast 10,661 2,416 22.7 10,220
Central-Western 9,322 1,179 12.6 8,516
Southeast 16,127 5,690 35.3 15,550
South 7,566 1,004 13.3 7,333
Table 11 – Gymnosperm species number per Region.
Region Species total 2015 Species total 2010
North 17 16
Northeast 2 2
Central-Western 7 7
Southeast 4 6
South 5 7

1096 The Brazil Flora Group
Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
above), only Fabaceae, Poaceae and Rubiaceae
appear among the top ten throughout all six
biomes. Asteraceae and Euphorbiaceae appear
in five biomes, while Apocynaceae, Cyperaceae,
Melastomataceae and Orchidaceae appear in four.
Malvaceae appears in three biomes. Thirteen plant
families appear among the 10 top families under
a single biome: Amaryllidaceae, Annonaceae,
Araceae, Bignoniaceae, Bromeliaceae, Cactaceae,
Convolvulaceae, Eriocaulaceae, Iridaceae,
Malpighiaceae, Myrtaceae, Sapindaceae and
Solanaceae.
Fabaceae is the most species rich family in
the Amazon Rainforest and in the Caatinga, while
it occupies the second position in the Atlantic
Rainforest, Cerrado and Pantanal, and the fourth in
the Pampa (Tab. 9). Poaceae, also included among
the overall ten most diverse families, is the first in
the Pantanal, and the second in the Caatinga and in
the Pampa. Rubiaceae occupies the fourth position
in the overall ten top families, but does not reach
the five first positions in four biomes, however it
is the third richest family in the Amazon Rainforest
and the fifth in the Caatinga. Asteraceae, amongst
the top ten families in five biomes apart from the
Amazon, is the most important family in both
Cerrado and Pampa. Euphorbiaceae occupies a
noticeable position in the Caatinga, while it has
a lower rank in the Atlantic Rainforest, Amazon
Rainforest and Pantanal. Amongst the families
present in four biomes, Orchidaceae figures as the
most important family in the Atlantic Rainforest,
while it appears in second place in the Amazon
Rainforest, in third in the Cerrado and in tenth
place in the Caatinga. Cyperaceae is the third most
important one in the Pampa, while Malvaceae
is the third most important one in the Pantanal.
Among the families that appear in a single biome,
Bromeliaceae is the most noticeable one as the third
most important family in the Atlantic Rainforest.
Pampa and Pantanal have families among their top
10 that are not in the list of the most diverse ones
in other biomes (Tab. 9), with five exclusive for the
Pampa (Iridaceae, Solanaceae, Convolvulaceae,
Cactaceae and Amaryllidaceae) and three in
the Pantanal (Bignoniaceae, Sapindaceae and
Malpighiaceae).
Brazilian Geopolitical divisions -
Regions and States
Regarding geopolitical subdivisions there
was an increase in the number of Angiosperm
species recorded for the Southeastern region
that continues to be the most diverse (16,127 vs.
15,550 species in 2010), being the one with highest
number of endemic species (5,690), representing
35.3% of endemism (Tab. 10). On the other hand,
the South has the smallest number of species
(7,566 vs. 7,333 in 2010) and the lowest endemism
as well (1,004 species, 13.3% endemism). In
relation to Gymnosperms (Tab. 11), the North is
the most diverse (17 species) and the Northeast
the least diverse (two species). For Southeast and
South regions there was a decrease of two species
in 2015 in relation to 2010 (Tab. 11). Amazonas
is the state with the highest number of species for
Gymnosperms (12 species), followed for other
two states that have part or all their territory
included in the Amazonian biome (Tab. 12): Acre
(8 species), Rondônia (7), Mato Grosso (6) and
Pará (6). Six states (Amapá, Maranhão, Paraíba,
Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte, and Tocantins) have
no Gymnosperm records so far (Tab. 12).
The seven Brazilian states with the largest
number of Angiosperm species remained in the
same order found in 2010 (Tab. 13), with increased
number of species varying from 8% to nearly
17%, as follows: Bahia (1,284 species - 16.7%),
Minas Gerais (849 species - 8.2%), Amazonas (733
species - 9.7%), São Paulo (604 species - 8.7%),
Rio de Janeiro (586 species - 8.7%), Pará (652
species - 11.6%) and Paraná (629 species - 12%).
Below the seven states with the largest
number of species, different addition rate of new
records has caused inversions in states position in
relation to what was found in 2010. Mato Grosso
overtook Goiás, Espírito Santo surpassed Santa
Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul overtook Acre,
Rondônia passed Pernambuco, Roraima passed
Maranhão and Tocantins overtook Piauí. The same
trend of dramatic species number increase found
within the biomes with the least species was true
of the states with least number of species, such as
Sergipe, that more than doubled its species count
from 770 to 1,608 (103.8% increase), while Rio
Grande do Norte (72.8%), Tocantins (70.3%) and
Alagoas (63.3%) increased their numbers by more
than 50%.
In terms of Brazilian states (Tab. 13), there
is a trend of sharp drop in endemism for Rio de
Janeiro (less 105 endemic species, or -8.9% than
in 2010), Acre (less 50 species, or -46.3%), São
Paulo (25 less species, -7.6%), Goiás (24 less
species, -4.6%), Mato Grosso (15 less species,

Seed Plant diversity in Brazil.
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1097
Table 12 – Gymnosperm species number per Brazilian
State and Federal District.
States and Federal
District
Species
number
2015
Species
number
2010
Amazonas 12 12
Acre 8 8
Rondônia 7 4
Mato Grosso 6 5
Pará 6 4
Paraná 4 6
Minas Gerais 4 4
Goiás 4 5
Rio Grande do Sul 4 7
São Paulo 3 6
Santa Catarina 3 6
Rio de Janeiro 3 5
Roraima 3 0
Bahia 2 2
Distrito Federal 2 3
Espírito Santo 2 3
Alagoas 1 1
Ceará 1 0
Mato Grosso do Sul 1 1
Pernambuco 1 1
Sergipe 1 1
Amapá 0 1
Maranhão 0 0
Paraíba 0 0
Piauí 0 0
Rio Grande do Norte 0 0
Tocantins 0 0
-5.7%), Maranhão (10 less species, -20.8%),
Amazonas (9 less species, -1.3%), Pará (8 less
species, -2.8%), Pernambuco (7 less species,
-9.2%), Rondônia (6 less species, -12.8%) and
others states with 5 or less species. There was
an increase in the number of endemic species
registered for Espírito Santo, with 92 more
endemic species, showing an increase of 19.5%,
Rio Grande do Sul (41 species, 23.2%), Mato
Grosso do Sul (14 species, 23.7%) and Roraima
(5 species, 17.2%).
Life-forms
The proportion of life-forms varies within
the different biomes, with trees appearing in
larger proportion in the Amazon and Atlantic
Rainforests, while herbs predominate in the
Pampa (Tab. 14, Fig. 2). Other biomes, such as
the Pantanal, Cerrado, Caatinga and, partly, the
Atlantic Rainforest also have strong presence
of herbs, but this is less extreme than what was
found for the Pampa. Lianas are more expressive
in the Amazon and Atlantic Rainforests,
followed by the Pantanal. When comparing
the profiles of the different biomes (Fig. 2),
the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado appear
to be most comparable, also resembling what
was found for the Caatinga, with a balanced
presence of shrubs and trees, and 30% or more
of herbs, with moderate numbers of lianas.
The proportion found between tree and
shrub versus herbaceous species, including
lianas, varies amongst the biomes (Tab. 14). The
lowest proportion was recorded for the Amazon
Rainforest, where for each tree species there are
two shrubs or herbs, i.e. a ration of 1:2; while
the Atlantic Rainforest presents 1:4 proportion.
For the Caatinga, it was found to be 1:6, the
Cerrado has 1:7 and the Pantanal, 1:8. The
grassland dominated Pampa has a proportion of
1:31, i.e. one tree species for over 30 species of
shrub, subshrub, herb or liana.
Substrate
The majority of plant species throughout
Brazilian biomes are terrestrial (Fig. 4), ranging
from 83.7% in the Amazon Rainforest through
to 75.6 in the Atlantic Rainforest (Tab. 15).
Figure 2 – Angiosperm life-form species number per
biome. The exact values are found in table 14.

1098 The Brazil Flora Group
Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
The Pantanal has the largest proportion of plants
inhabiting aquatic substrates (14.2%), followed
by Pampa (7.3%), Caatinga (4.5%), Amazon
Rainforest (3.1%), Cerrado (3.0) and Atlantic
Rainforest (2.4%). Caatinga (10.3%), Cerrado (9%)
and Pampa (8.5%) have a high representativity of
rupicolous plant species (Tab. 15). The Atlantic
Rainforest is the biome with the highest number
of epiphytic species, with 12.2%, followed by the
Amazon Rainforest (7%). If taking into account
epiphytes plus hemiepiphytes, the number is even
higher for the Atlantic Rainforest (13%), followed
Table 13 – Angiosperm species number per Brazilian State and Federal District.
States and Federal
District
Species
number
2015
Endemic
species
2015
Endemic
species
% 2015
Species
number
2010
Endemic
species
2010
Endemic
species %
2010
Total
species
growth
%
Endemic
species
growth %
Minas Gerais 11,239 2,245 20.0 10,039 2,158 20.8 8.2 4.0
Bahia 8,970 1,694 18.9 7,686 1,621 21.1 16.7 4.5
Amazonas 8,261 683 8.3 7,528 692 9.2 9.7 -1.3
São Paulo 7,525 329 4.4 6,921 354 5.1 8.7 -7.1
Rio de Janeiro 7,354 1,076 14.6 6,768 1,181 17.4 8.7 -8.9
Pará 6,278 282 4.5 5,626 290 5.2 11.6 -2.8
Paraná 5,891 192 3.3 5,262 188 3.6 12.0 2.1
Mato Grosso 5,729 247 4.3 4,585 262 5.7 25.0 -5.7
Goiás 5,625 496 8.8 4,818 520 10.8 16.7 -4.6
Espírito Santo 5,304 564 10.6 3,971 472 11.9 33.6 19.5
Santa Catarina 4,753 182 3.8 4,112 183 4.5 15.6 -0.5
Rio Grande do Sul 4,238 218 5.1 3,673 177 4.8 15.4 23.2
Acre 4,028 58 1.4 3,740 108 2.9 7.7 -46.3
Mato Grosso do Sul 3,657 73 2.0 2,816 59 2.1 29.9 23.7
Rondônia 3,290 41 1.2 2,544 47 1.8 29.3 -12.8
Distrito Federal 3,223 33 1.0 2,672 36 1.3 20.6 -8.3
Pernambuco 3,133 69 2.2 2,421 76 3.1 29.4 -9.2
Roraima 3,075 34 1.1 2,239 29 1.3 37.3 17.2
Maranhão 2,855 38 1,3 2,414 48 2.0 18.3 -20.8
Amapá 2,655 34 1.3 2,198 37 1.7 20.8 -8.1
Ceará 2,427 47 1.9 1,888 49 2.6 28.5 -4.1
Tocantins 2,306 45 2.0 1,354 48 3.5 70.3 -6.3
Piauí 1,992 30 1.5 1,416 33 2.3 40.7 -9.1
Paraíba 1,837 10 0.5 1,272 9 0.7 44.4 11.1
Alagoas 1,800 11 0.6 1,102 10 0.9 63.3 10.0
Sergipe 1,569 3 0.2 770 2 0.3 103.8 50.0
Rio Grande do Norte 1,222 4 0.3 707 3 0.4 72.8 33.3
by the Amazon Rainforest (9%), Cerrado (3.7%),
Caatinga (3%), Pampa (0.9%), and Pantanal
(0.8%). Parasitic plants, despite the fact that
the Amazon Rainforest (133 species), Cerrado
(125) and Atlantic Rainforest (122) present the
highest values of hemiparasites (Tab. 15), the
largest proportional representation is found in the
Pantanal (1.6%), followed by the Caatinga (1.3%).
Saprophytes are present in the Amazon Rainforest
(0.3%), Atlantic Rainforest (0.2%) and Cerrado
(0.1%), but were not recorded so far for Caatinga,
Pampa and Pantanal (Tab. 15).

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1099
Vegetation types
Within the 24 vegetation types recognized
by the Brazilian List (Lista do Brasil 2015),
including Anthropized areas (Tab. 16), the
highest Angiosperm number of species is
found in Ombrophilous forest (12,000 species).
Analysing only the species total, this is followed
by ‘Cerrado lato sensu’ (7,210 species), ‘Terra
firme forest’ (5,722) and ‘Campo rupestre’
(4,928), Gallery Forest (4,259 species) and
Semideciduous Seasonal Forest (3,384 species).
Grassland reaches almost 3,000 species while
Figure 3 – Map of Brazilian biomes showing the
total number of seed plant species (top number), the
number of endemic species (middle number), and the
percentage endemism for each biome. *Podocarpus
barretoi Laubenf. & Silba is the only endemic species
of Gymnosperm.
Figure 4 – Substrate types in the Angiosperms.
‘Restinga’, Altitude Grassland and ‘Caatinga
stricto sensu’, as well as the Anthropized areas,
have around 2,000 species records each. All
other vegetation types were scored for less
than 1,900 species, and the smallest number of
species was found in the Mangrove (81 species)
(Tab. 16).
Species restricted to a single vegetation
type show a slightly different pattern from
that found for total species richness (Tab.
16), with Ombrophilous forest (5,210), ‘Terra
firme forest’ (2,014), ‘Campo rupestre’ (1,994),
‘Cerrado lato sensu’ (1,799) and Grassland
(638) topping the list. Lower richness of
endemic species was found in comparison
to restricted species, also with differences
in relation to their distribution in different
vegetation types. The largest number of endemic
species per vegetation type was, again, recorded
for Ombrophilous forest (4,159), followed by
‘Campo rupestre’ (1,951), ‘Cerrado lato sensu’
(1,357), ‘Terra firme forest’ (598) and Altitude
grassland (479). Mangrove had no endemic
species, while Palm grove had only six endemic
out of 240 species (Tab. 16).
When analysing the relative endemism,
the ‘Campo rupestre’ has the highest percentage
of endemism (1,951 endemic out of 4,928
species, 39.6%), followed by the Ombrophilous
Forest (34.7%), Altitude grassland (21.8%)
and ‘Cerrado lato sensu’ (18.8%). Aquatic
vegetation has shown the highest percentage
of restricted species (45.1%) but much lower
endemism, as was also reported for the ‘Terra
firme forest’ (35.2%). Vegetation types where
the number of restricted species is similar to the
number of endemics were ‘Carrasco’, ‘Campo
rupestre’, ‘Caatinga stricto sensu’, Palm grove,
Mixed ombrophilous forest, ‘Restinga’ and
Semideciduous seasonal forest.
While the Angiosperms are present in all
vegetation types (Tab. 16), the Gymnosperms
occur only in seven of those (Tab. 17),
predominantly in the ‘Terra firme forest’ (eight
species), Gallery Forest (six) and Amazon
savanna (four). The latter, together with the
‘Terra firme forest’ present the highest number
of species restricted to these vegetation types,
with four each (Tab. 17).

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Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
Table 14 – Life-form of Angiosperm species analysed by biome. The proportion tree:herbaceous was calculated by dividing the tree species from the sum of all other
life-forms (shrubs, subshrubs, herbs, lianas). Proportion indicates the real value of trees divided by herbaceous.
Life forms Atlantic Rainforest Amazon Rainforest Cerrado Caatinga Pampa Pantanal
Tree 3,343 4,725 1,790 886 59 176
Shrub 3,491 2,821 3,380 1,559 190 294
Subshrub 2,102 8,02 3,185 1,120 406 277
Herb 6,663 3,648 5,189 1,812 1,165 632
Liana or climber 1,900 1,901 1,276 643 96 206
Proportion tree:herbaceous 4.2 1.9 7.3 5.8 31.5 8.0
Proportion 1:4 1:2 1:7 1:6 1:31 1:8
Table 15 – Substrate of Angiosperm species analysed by biome. Numbers between parentheses represent the percentage of the substrate in relation to the total species
number found in the biome.
Substrate Atlantic Rainforest
Total and (%)
Amazon Rainforest
Total and (%)
Cerrado
Total and (%)
Caatinga Total and
(%)
Pampa
Total and (%)
Pantanal
Total and (%)
Aquatic 395 (2.4) 382 (3.1) 387 (3.0) 230 (4.5) 137 (7.3) 201 (14.2)
Epiphyte 1,980 (12.2) 876 (7.0) 419 (3.2) 127 (2.5) 16 (0.9) 7 (0.5)
Hemiepiphyte 135 (0.8) 244 (2.0) 62 (0.5) 26 (0.5) 0 (0.0) 4 (0.3)
Hemiparasite 122 (0.8) 133 (1.1) 125 (1.0) 65 (1.3) 21 (1.1) 23 (1.6)
Parasite 18 (0.1) 9 (0.1) 23 (0.2) 7 (0.1) 4 (0.2) 2 (0.1)
Rupicolous 1,273 (7.8) 354 (2.8) 1,177 (9.0) 529 (10.3) 159 (8.5) 48 (3.4)
Saprophyte 31 (0.2) 38 (0.3) 16 (0.1) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0)
Terrestrial 12,284 (75.6) 10,448 (83.7) 10,864 (83.1) 4,175 (80.9) 1,540 (82.0) 1,135 (79.9)

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1101
Table 16 – Angiosperm species number scored for each vegetation type.
Vegetation type Species total Restricted to the vegetation type Endemic and restricted to the
vegetation type
Restricted
species %
Endemic
species %
Anthropic area 2,167 162 62 7.5 2.9
‘Caatinga stricto sensu’ 2,073 344 310 16.6 15.0
‘Campinarana’ 1,306 234 86 17.9 6.6
Altitude grassland 2,194 593 479 27.0 21.8
‘Várzea grassland’ 866 111 39 12.8 4.5
Grassland 2,957 638 231 21.6 7.8
‘Campo rupestre’ 4,928 1,994 1,951 40.5 39.6
‘Carrasco’ 533 20 20 3.8 3.8
‘Cerrado lato sensu’ 7,210 1,799 1,357 25.0 18.8
Gallery forest 4,259 424 257 10.0 6.0
‘Igapó forest’ 1,493 177 56 11.9 3.8
‘Terra Firme forest’ 5,722 2,014 598 35.2 10.5
‘Várzea forest’ 1,954 246 62 12.6 3.2
Deciduous seasonal forest 985 105 67 10.7 6.8
Evergreen seasonal forest 315 29 16 9.2 5.1
Semideciduous seasonal forest 3,384 311 241 9.2 7.1
Ombrophilous forest (Pluvial forest) 12,000 5,210 4,159 43.4 34.7
Mixed ombrophilous forest 1,343 109 81 8.1 6.0
Mangrove 81 6 0 7.4 0.0
Palm grove 240 9 6 3.8 2.5
‘Restinga’ 2,471 356 295 14.4 11.9
Amazonian savanna 1,163 212 53 18.2 4.6
Aquatic vegetation 643 290 84 45.1 13.1
Rock outcrop vegetatiom 1,888 474 336 25.1 17.8

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Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
Figure 5 – Above: Distribution map provided to the contributors by the on-line system, showing herbarium records
distributed throughout Brazil and neighbouring countries. Below: Table provided to the contributors by the on-line
system, relating the crosses to the herbarium data and enabling them to see provenance and determiner of each specimen.

Seed Plant diversity in Brazil.
Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
1103
Discussion
Overall
The continued refinement of the Brazilian
List over five years involved intensive review of
the data already entered, with the addition of new
records for Brazil, synonymization of names into
already accepted names, updating names following
new taxonomic framework, and specialist checking
and accepting newly described species. Species
number grew through checking and accepting
newly described species and adding new records
for Brazil.
While for the Gymnosperms all the included
names were checked both in 2010 and 2015,
Angiosperm names had around 82% of their
names checked in 2010. A considerable number
of names (both accepted and synonyms) were
added to the system and checked by the specialists.
The number of new Angiosperm names included
in the system between 2010 and 2015 was 9,274
(11.6%), growing less dramatically in relation to the
total numbers, where 16,623 (17.7%) were added,
reflecting mostly the activity of the phycology
and mycology specialist groups, for which the
state of knowledge was always known to be less
developed (Maia & Carvalho Jr 2010; Bicudo &
Menezes 2010).
In relation to 2010, the number of checked
names of Angiosperms grew 30.6%, addressing
both the newly included names and the extant,
but not yet checked, names from the 2010 edition
that were then estimated at 18.5% (calculated
from Table 1). The list is now in a much better
situation, with almost 94% of its names checked
and, wherever possible, either marked as accepted
names or as synonyms linked to an accepted name.
As an indication, there were 1,191 new names
of Angiosperms published for Brazil in the period
between 2010 and 2014 (IPNI 2015). Not all these
new taxa were added as accepted species to the
list as some of them were considered synonyms
by the specialists, but it is likely that a large part
of them would have been added. According to
Sobral & Stehmann (2009), Brazilian new species
represented an average of 7.8% of the plants
described for the world between 1990 and 2006.
In the years prior to this project (2004-2010), we
found that the average percentage of Brazilian
plants described compared to the rest of the world
was around 8.5%, while from 2010 this figure
appears bigger, at 12.2%. An acceleration in the
number of species described for Brazil during the
period of the project can also be noticed, as from
2004 to 2009 the average species described for
Brazil per year was 178.3+/-36 while from 2010 to
2014 the figure increased to 252.6+/-32.1.
New records for Brazil were spotted through
the collection, study and naming of new material,
much of which was promptly digitalized by
herbaria and made available on-line through the
portal of the Brazilian List. New records were
also highlighted by catalogues, such as Zuloaga et
al. (2008) and Jørgensen et al. (2014), floras and
monographs (i.e. Medeiros et al. 2014).
Included in the present figures is also the
decrease of species numbers resulting from
synonymization and changes of circumscription
of accepted species, and exclusion of species that
were cited for but not effectively located within the
national territory thus far.
Better knowledge is becoming available
regarding increase in species range beyond the
Brazilian borders and prior errors originated by the
default setting as ‘endemic’ during the successive
revisions of the Brazilian List were corrected. Even
taking these readjustments into account, we saw an
overall steady increase both for accepted species
Table 17 – Gymnosperm species number scored for each vegetation type.
Vegetation type Species total Restricted to the vegetation type
‘Campinarana’ 3 1
Gallery forest 6 3
‘Terra firme forest’ 8 4
Ombrophilous forest (Pluvial forest) 1 0
Mixed ombrophilous forest 1 0
‘Restinga’ 1 0
Amazonian savanna 4 4

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totals (3%) and endemic species (4.5%, or 4.1% if
we eliminate 62 indications for Anthropized area
from Table 16) between 2010 and 2015.
The number of threatened plant species
currently found in the Brazilian Red List (Tab.
4) is slightly above 6% the total number of
species of seed plant accepted for Brazil. When
considering only Brazilian endemic species, the
number of threatened plants represents 9.6% of the
species. According to Brummitt et al. (2015), the
expected number of species endangered worldwide
represents around 20-26%. For specialist groups
that were globally assessed, such as Cactaceae
(Zappi et al. 2012), almost 32% of the species
belong to one of the three categories of threat. The
smaller proportion currently recorded for Brazil as
a whole reflects the fact that the red-listing process
in Brazil did not depart from a complete list of taxa,
but focused in former lists of endangered species
suggested by botanists. In order to get to a realistic
picture of how endangered the Brazilian flora really
is, a blanket approach studying family by family,
species by species is urgently needed.
Top 10 families
This suite of families represents 47.2% of
the species richness of Angiosperms in Brazil,
having been increased by 68.5% (630 out of the
921 species) in relation to the number of species
recorded in 2010 (Forzza et al. 2010). In terms of
endemism, the increase was more expressive, at
77%, or 609 of the total of 791 endemic species
newly recorded for Angiosperms between 2010 and
2015 belonging to the top 10 families.
The Apocynaceae, formerly the tenth largest
family (Forzza et al. 2010), was the only family to
be surpassed in species richness by the Malvaceae,
number 10 in 2015. Apart from the Poaceae, which
has decreased in size by 120 species (-8.6%), the
increase in species numbers was between 1 and
26.6% for the largest families, with Rubiaceae
(2.1%), Fabaceae (2.3%) and Asteraceae (2.4%)
showing the slowest increase while Euphorbiaceae
(21.5%) has been the fastest growing family
between 2010 and 2015, with a difference well
above the 3% found for the Angiosperms as a
whole. Two other families that have also markedly
increased in size during this period were the
Bromeliaceae (11.3%) and the Myrtaceae (11%).
Sobral & Stehmann (2009) pointed
out Bromeliaceae as one of the five fastest
growing families together with the Orchidaceae,
Fabaceae, Asteraceae and Poaceae. By 2015, while
Bromeliaceae continues to grow at a high rate,
increase in new species in other families has slowed
down, with Orchidaceae at medium pace, Fabaceae
and Asteraceae presenting slow increase, and the
Poaceae decreased in size through the elimination
of over 200 cultivated and introduced species from
the present calculations. The increase in the growth
speed of the species richness in Euphorbiaceae and
Myrtaceae reflects a possible change in the balance
of the activities of researchers describing biodiversity
in Brazil during the last few years. It is possible that,
for less ‘popular’ and more complex, speciose plant
families such as these ones, this acceleration may be
a direct result of the present project.
In terms of endemism, the three families
where the endemism figures grew faster are
Euphorbiaceae (26.6%), Bromeliaceae (14%) and
Myrtaceae (12.7%), all well above the growth
found for Angiosperms as a whole (4.5%). On
the other hand, Orchidaceae has only 16 more
endemic species than five years ago, increasing
its percentage of endemism by only 1%, while
Asteraceae had a modest increase of 2.2%.
30 largest genera
Amongst the 30 top genera, 19 belong to the 10
top families, thus influencing the numbers exposed
above. The largest species increase took place in
Croton, where the increase of the number of endemic
species was also the highest. Following the creation
of an international group to study this mega-genus in
2001 (Berry 2015), around 15 new species of Croton
were described between 2010 and 2015, and more
new discoveries are being published. However, the
130 species difference cannot be explained by the
discovery and description of new species, and it
stems from a delay in including existing information
(checking all accepted names) that some groups faced
during the implementation of the Brazilian List on-
line. This is the most high profile example of instances
that occurred in other, smaller groups, and by no
means the rule within this mainly successful project.
In most cases where there was a significant
decrease in species numbers within a genus, the
adjustment could be tracked back to a new generic
circumscription; for example several species formerly
included in Hyptis were transferred to five recently
recognized genera (Cantinoa, Cyanocephalus,
Eplingiella, Medusantha, Mesosphaerum, and
Oocephalus; see Pastore et al. 2011; Harley &
Pastore 2012).

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1105
Endemism reduction that was linked
to a decrease of species number was seen in
Paepalanthus (-16 species) and Leandra (-one
species). Adjustments regarding endemism that
were not always linked to a reduction in species
number were seen in Philodendron (-48 species),
Piper (-12 species), Peperomia (-seven species)
and Epidendrum (-one species). The more extreme
case, that of Philodendron, can be explained by in-
depth research in the Amazonian species, with the
study of additional specimens of species previously
thought to be endemic to Brazil collected in
bordering countries, such as Colombia, combined
with the fact that the initial default setting of the
Brazilian List was marked ‘ON’ for endemism.
Readjustments made within Philodendron show
that the endemic species of the genus are, in their
majority, from the Atlantic Rainforest. The revision
process during the last five years was supported by
growing evidence from collections of a vast number
of herbaria that went on-line during this period,
thus enabling the botanists to visualize species dot
maps and perform important corrections for the
endemism in their groups (Fig. 5).
The top 10 families have shown a slightly
higher proportional growth in endemism than the
30 largest genera that remained collectively similar
in terms of their endemism between 2010 and
2015. It is possible that the numbers for the group
of 30 top genera were influenced by the dramatic
drop in endemism caused by further studies in
Paepalanthus, Piper and Philodendron.
Biomes
The overall trend of growing species numbers
was maintained, to a certain extent, in data
concerning the Brazilian biomes. The almost
exclusively Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest and the
Cerrado continue to lead in terms of biodiversity and
endemism amongst seed plants (Fig. 3), coinciding
with the hotspots highlighted by Mittermeier et
al. (1998, 2004) and Myers et al. (2000). They
are followed by the Amazon Rainforest and the
Caatinga; and the Cerrado, a biome currently
under severe threat of rapid destruction due to the
expansion of the agricultural frontier, has now a
wider gap in relation with the Amazon Rainforest
through increased species and endemism records
added during the last five years.
While the number of species now recorded
for the Atlantic Rainforest has increased 7.4%
(1,029 species) over the number presented by
Forzza et al. (2010), the records of endemic
species has been less expressive, with only 418
extra endemic species, or 6%, added to this biome
between 2010 and 2015, causing a fall in endemism
percentage from 50.2% (Forzza et al. 2010) to
49.5%. For the Cerrado, the increase in species
number was smaller, at 6.3% (713 species), while
the endemism increase was also proportionally
smaller, at 2.5%, with 102 endemic species record
added to this biome, also a fall in the percentage of
endemic species from 36.5% (Forzza et al. 2010)
to 35.1%. It is possible that this rise in species
numbers, yet not followed closely by the increase
of endemic species, results from refinement of
the knowledge of plant distributions within and
beyond each biome, for instance the presence of
Atlantic Rainforest species in other biomes by
the way of gallery forests in the Cerrado or of
enclaves of humid highland forest in the Caatinga,
or by species being recorded beyond the Brazilian
borders within the same biome (for instance in the
Bolivian Cerrado or in the extension of the Atlantic
Rainforest into Paraguay and Argentina).
Meanwhile the Caatinga, the only exclusive
Brazilian biome, saw an increase of 7.8% (337
species) with 169 records of endemic species
added, or an increase of 22.7% from the 2010
data, bringing the percentage of endemic species
from 17.2% (Forzza et al. 2010) to 19.7%. This is
the only biome where the percentage of endemic
species has risen during the 2010-2015 period and
this is connected to the local botanical activity in
the universities, and may also be related to the
compilation of lists and floras that include the
Caatinga biome (i.e. Siqueira Filho 2012; Prata
et al. 2013).
Both Pampa and Pantanal, with respectively
340 species (25.3%) and 392 species (44.3%)
added, have seen dramatic increases in the
biodiversity recorded. In the Pantanal this may be
a reflection of recent efforts employed to produce
an up-to-date checklist for Mato Grosso do Sul
(Farinaccio et al. 2015 no prelo). However, even
if the addition of eight endemic species to the
2015 list meant an increase of 17.4%, the overall
percentage of endemic species in this biome has
decreased from 5.2% to 4.3%, no doubt because a
great many species from the Pantanal are also found
in Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay (Sarmiento
1983, Haase & Beck 1989, Larrea-Alcázar et al.
2010). The recent surveys that inform the Bolivian
Catalogue (Jørgensen et al. 2014) probably

1106 The Brazil Flora Group
Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
contributed with additional evidence of new
examples of such taxa. In the Pampa, the addition
of 26 endemic species (34.2%) did not change the
overall percentage of endemic species, that remains
almost unchanged, at 5.7%. It is possible that the
increase in species number for the Pampa is a
consequence of comparisons with the Catalogue
of the ‘Cono Sur’ (Zuloaga et al. 2008) and the
concentration of local effort to catalogue the Flora
of Rio Grande do Sul.
In the case of the Amazon Rainforest, the
increase of 4.8% (547 species) was the smallest
increase in terms of species total. Moreover, the
percentage of endemic species for this biome has
decreased by 48 (-2.5%) species from 1,948 in
2010 (Forzza et al. 2010) to 1,900 in 2015, with
an overall endemic percentage drop from 17.2% to
16.1%. Considering the large expanse covered by
this biome, it is surprising that it now falls behind
the Cerrado in terms of species richness, but, in
terms of species endemism, this result is justified.
The Cerrado has more diverse and abundant
vegetation types than the Amazon Rainforest,
however, and includes large sections spanning
over much wider altitudinal and latitudinal ranges.
On the other hand, the fact that the Cerrado is
more accessible and better studied, thus better
represented in herbaria, may play some role in the
recording of known species number.
Apart from the survey work developed for
the whole state of Acre by Daly & Silveira (2009),
research in the Amazon Rainforest has focused on
isolated locations. Survey work such as the Flora
of the Reserva Ducke, by Ribeiro et al. (1999),
looking at all life-forms rather than focussing on
woody species, has shown that systematic and
complete collections may add large quantities
of known and not yet described species to each
locality studied within this biome. Comparing the
two studies cited above, the proportions between
woody and herbaceous life-forms are different.
According data from Daly & Silveira (2009), the
proportion between trees and other life-forms
found for all vegetation types in Acre was 1:2;
while the data from Ribeiro et al. (1999) indicated
a proportion of 1:1 between trees and herbaceous
plants for an area of “Terra Firme” forest.
The research carried out on the Amazon
basin by ter Steege et al. (2013) suggests that
there are possibly between 15–16 thousand tree
species. Moreover, from our findings we now
understand that there are 2 or more shrubby or
herbaceous species for each Amazonian tree
species. Considering these proportions, Hopkins
(2003) projection that the Brazilian Amazon
Rainforest might harbour between 40 and 50
thousand species of seed plants, many of them yet
undescribed, seems to be more appropriate for the
whole basin. Hopkins (2007) and ter Steege et al.
(2013), point at the poor state of floristic knowledge
of the Amazon basin. In addition, botanical research
in the Amazon Rainforest has been biased towards
studying its tree flora, but there is much else to be
discovered besides this if more inclusive surveys
of all life-forms were to be carried out. Analysing
the number of 0,18 exsiccate per km2 (including
duplicates) in the Northern region (Specieslink
2015) the need of intensive and systematic work
in this area to cover the gaps of knowledge about
its biodiversity becomes evident.
When analysing the different biomes according
to their more abundant families in terms of species,
it was found that their shared ten top families
were only Fabaceae, Poaceae and Rubiaceae, all
extremely species rich and not exclusively woody
(in fact, Poaceae can be considered marginally
woody when bamboos are taken into account).
Asteraceae and Euphorbiaceae appear in five
biomes, while Melastomataceae and Orchidaceae
appear in four, together with Apocynaceae and
Cyperaceae, which are not amongst the overall top
ten families. Malvaceae appears in three biomes.
Families that appear amongst the top ten within
a single biome are seldom amongst the overall
top ten (Bromeliaceae, Myrtaceae), more often
making a single apparition (Amaryllidaceae,
Annonaceae, Araceae, Bignoniaceae, Cactaceae,
Convolvulaceae, Eriocaulaceae, Iridaceae,
Malpighiaceae, Sapindaceae and Solanaceae). In
the case of Myrtaceae and Bromeliaceae, both
possessing a center of diversity in the Atlantic
Rainforest, their sheer number of species is so large
within that biome that it supports their presence
within the top ten. The Eriocaulaceae is a point in
case, with huge biodiversity within the Campos
Rupestres that are included within the Cerrado
biome, thus occupying the sixth position within
this very rich biome, despite not being one of the
overall top ten families. In biomes with less species,
specific characteristics pertaining these individual
families, or ‘one offs’, that may be favouring their
presence amongst the top ten, are the woodiness
of Annonaceae in the Amazon Rainforest, the
climbing habit of Bignoniaceae, Malpighiaceae and

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1107
Sapindaceae in the Pantanal and the corm and bulb-
bearing, herbaceous Iridaceae and Amaryllidaceae
found to be expressive in the Pampa. Also in the
Pampa, the expressivity of rupicolous plants may
have led to the position occupied by the Cactaceae.
Brazilian Geopolitical divisions -
Regions and States
While a balance of 921 new native seed
plant records included for Brazil, the number of
additional state records is much larger, in excess of
19 thousand new state records entered in the system
during the last five years. The release of a facility
that generates a provisional map by plotting the
underlying herbarium collections made available
to the specialists in 2011 has guided them towards
including many records by observing the map and
checking the specimen identification data. As some
of these herbarium collections included specimens
from outside Brazil, the map was also useful to
double-check endemism of some taxa, encouraging
further research and adjustments (Fig. 4).
States with floras and lists partially or totally
published by 2010 have shown a smaller increase in
the number of species than states where the floristic
knowledge is still incomplete. The list of plants
from the Catalogue of the Flora of Acre (Daly &
Silveira 2009) was one of the databases added to the
system when it was created, and this was reflected
in a modest increase of species for this state (7.7%),
while dramatic adjustments to the number of
endemic species for the state were made between
2010 and 2015, with a fall in the number of endemic
species of the order of -46.3%. The recent growth of
knowledge regarding the flora of Acre is described
by Medeiros et al. (2014). Also in the process of
organizing its Catalogue, the state of Rio de Janeiro
(Baumgratz et al. 2014) saw moderate growth in
the species number (586 species, growth of 8.7%)
and a fall on the number of endemic species (105
species, decreasing -8.9%). On the other hand,
states such as Paraná, whose list was recently
published (Kaehler et al. 2014), using Forzza et
al. (2010) as its starting point, saw an increase
of 629 species, with 12% growth in the species
number and a slight increase in the number of
endemic species. Another ongoing project that may
probably be contributing to an accelerated increase
of the species count is the checklist of Espírito
Santo (Dutra et al. in press), focussing on this still
poorly known and extremely biodiverse state where
1,333 new species records, or a percentual growth
of 33.6%, took place during the last five years. It
is possible that an intensification of work within
the state of Espírito Santo has resulted in range
extension of many species formerly thought to be
endemic to Rio de Janeiro, resulting in the decrease
of endemism seen for the latter state.
Through the publication of the Catalogue
(Forzza et al. 2010), the states of the Northeastern
region of Brazil were stimulated to record their
flora at an intense pace, with increases of more than
28% on the species numbers for all states (Sergipe
103.8%, Rio Grande do Norte 72.8%, Alagoas
63.3%, Paraíba 44.4%, Piauí 40.7%, Pernambuco
29.4% and Ceará 28.5%), with exception of Bahia,
the second most species rich state, which saw a
respectable increase of 1,284 species (16.7%), and
Maranhão with an increase of 441 species (18.3%).
Finally, the state with the highest growth percentage
in terms of species numbers was Sergipe, probably
due to the publication of its own Flora project (Prata
et al. 2013).
Some Amazonian states show that, despite
the publication of the list, the knowledge seems
to have stalled and did not improve much during
the 2010 to 2015 period, namely in the Amazonas,
with less than 10% increase, and Pará, with 11.6%.
The state of Tocantins is a relatively recent
split of a former larger state of Goiás and many
of the species historically referred to Goiás have
wider distribution, occurring also in Tocantins. The
growth of the number of species from this state has
reached an increase of 70.3%, occupying the third
place in growth, after Sergipe and Rio Grande do
Norte. The mapping facility has made this situation
more obvious and hence there was a drop in the
number of endemic species from Goiás (-4.6%) due
to their newly recorded occurrence in Tocantins.
Life-forms
When comparing the proportion of tree
species with the other life-forms, such as shrubs,
herbs and lianas, there is wide variation among
the Brazilian biomes. Five of the biomes (Atlantic
Rainforest, Cerrado, Caatinga, Pampa and Pantanal)
show a majority of herbs amongst their life-forms,
while tree species are more expressive in the
Amazon Rainforest, but even so in a proportion
of 1:2. Even in biomes composed mostly by
forested vegetation, such as the Amazon and the
Atlantic Rainforests, different proportions have
been found, with the Atlantic Rainforest showing
a proportion of 1:4. This diversity of life-forms in

1108 The Brazil Flora Group
Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
the Atlantic Rainforest biome is justified by the
presence of many different vegetation types in
this biome, including ‘Restinga’, Rock outcrops,
Ombrophilous, Semideciduous and Mixed forests,
Altitude grassland and even outlying ‘Campo
rupestre’. The Atlantic Rainforest is also a centre
of diversity for Bromeliaceae and Orchidaceae,
both herbaceous families with expressive numbers
of epiphytes.
Amongst biomes where the vegetation is
mostly composed by different savanna types, the
Caatinga has a proportion of 1:6, and the Cerrado
has 1:7. At the other end of the spectrum from
the Amazon Rainforest, open habitats such as the
Pampa and Pantanal count with less tree species,
being rated at respectively 1:31 and 1:9. The Pampa
is the only biome characterized by large extensions
of grassland, and the diversity of tree species is very
reduced under its subtropical conditions. While
the lianas are less well represented in the Atlantic
Rainforest, Cerrado and Caatinga, subshrub species
are very few in the Amazon Rainforest, and trees,
as already mentioned, are the least represented
life-form in the Pampa and the Pantanal. Such
proportions represent a useful snapshot of the
overall different types of biomes in Brazil: forests,
savannas and grasslands.
The presence of some exclusive families
amongst the top ten families in the different
biomes provides, in some cases, a link with
this information. The abundance of species of
Malpighiaceae, Sapindaceae and Bignoniaceae
in the Pantanal may be linked to the presence of
habitats suitable for climbers, even if the biome
possesses low diversity of tree species. The
high position in the top ten rank for herbaceous
families such as Iridaceae and Amaryllidaceae
in the Pampa is linked to the grassland habitats,
together with the expressive numbers of species of
Poaceae, Cyperaceae and Asteraceae. The presence
of Fabaceae and Rubiaceae amongst the top 10
families in all six biomes help to understand the
landscape diversity found within the Brazilian
biomes, as they are families with huge amplitude
in terms of life-forms, from small herbs to tall trees.
Substrate
While terrestrial plants represent constantly
more than three quarters of the biodiversity in terms
of substrate in all biomes, epiphytes were the second
major component of the Atlantic Rainforest biome.
The first and third position amongst the top ten
families in the Atlantic Rainforest was occupied by
Orchids and Bromeliads, both well represented in
terms of epiphytic species. Other speciose group of
epiphytes is Peperomia (Piperaceae), the 22nd largest
genus in Brazil. The Araceae, with almost 50% of the
species occurring as epiphytes or hemiepiphytes, are
prominent in the Atlantic Rainforest and also appear
amongst the top ten families within the Amazon
Rainforest biome. Despite their comparative low
diversity in relation to the Atlantic Rainforest,
epiphytism was also the second substrate occupied
by plants in the Amazon Rainforest.
While aquatic plants were, as expected,
expressive in the Pantanal and Pampa, it could
have been expected that they would occupy a
larger proportion of the vegetation types available
in the Amazon (Igapó and Várzea forests, Várzea
fields, Aquatic Vegetation), however this was not
conveniently highlighted by our data. However, in
terms of proportion within the Amazon Rainforest
biome, the aquatic plants occupy the third,
following terrestrial and epiphytic substrate. The
Caatinga, despite of its xeric conditions, was
the third biome to display an expressive aquatic
vegetation, due to the seasonal floods that create
temporary lagoons teeming with life during the
rainy season.
The high number of rupicolous species found
in the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes can be justified
by the presence of the ‘Campo rupestre’ vegetation
type across both. This substrate is the second
most relevant in the Pampa, where many low rock
outcrops are found almost at the same level as the
grass. Upon land conversion for agriculture or into
pasture, these outcrops are quickly deteriorated and
lose their originally restricted flora.
In the Atlantic Rainforest the rupicolous
substrate is the third most relevant following
terrestrial and epiphytic, and this can be explained
by the Altitude grassland (Martinelli 2007) as well
as the Rock outcrop vegetation type, a term used for
non-crystalline outcrops generally at lower altitude
that do not fall within the definition of ‘Campo
rupestre’. These Rock outcrops, or inselbergs,
are also abundant within the Caatinga and the
Cerrado. The ecotone between Campo rupestre
and Caatinga stricto sensu, known as Carrasco,
is also stony and harbours rupicolous species.
Parasites and saprophytes are proportionally
less expressive in the Brazilian flora, and occur
basically in the Amazon Rainforest, Atlantic
Rainforest, and Cerrado.

Seed Plant diversity in Brazil.
Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
1109
Vegetation types
The inclusion of the 24 vegetation types
represented a huge advance in terms of the
refinement of the knowledge Brazilian plant
diversity, and it was not without difficulties.
Similarly to what we experienced at the start of the
project in 2009, contributors engaged differently
with the input of this new request for information.
These concepts were clearer for the botanists
that are active in the field and have experience
of collecting in different environments, however,
due to the diversity of professionals involved in
the project there were some obvious shortcomings
in the data.
An example of this was seen for Anthropised
areas that were considered as an independent
“vegetation type” in the list. These areas, however,
can be originated from any of the 23 vegetation
types that were submitted to drastic human actions,
such as deforestation, degradation, urbanization,
mining, etc. There were 162 native species listed
as restricted to disturbed environments, of which
62 are supposedly endemic to Brazil.
Other problems arose from the initial
difficulty faced by the committee to reach an
agreement for the vegetation types list. Ideally,
those should be comparable from one biome
to another, but in reality we settled for a list
that recognizes a considerable number of local
formations as unique. One good example is ‘Terra
firme’ forest, basically an Ombrophilous forest type
from the Amazon basin, and Deciduous seasonal
forest, a forest type that might be included by some
in ‘Caatinga stricto sensu’. Likewise, it is possible
that confusion generated between ‘Campo rupestre’
and Rock outcrop vegetation. The analysis in those
cases has to take into account that the conflicts
may be handled differently and variable levels of
consistency were achieved in the different groups.
Mirroring what was found for the Atlantic
Rainforest biome, its most expressive vegetation
type, the Ombrophilous forest, has not only the
highest number of species but a large percentage
of species restricted to this type of forest in Brazil,
and a large proportion of endemic species to this
vegetation type. The Atlantic Rainforest is not
totally endemic to Brazil, with outlying areas in
Argentina and Paraguay, which account for the
difference between the restricted species and
endemism to this vegetation type in Brazil.
Similarly, the ‘Cerrado lato sensu’ is the most
extensive vegetation type of a largely Brazilian
biome that extends into Bolivia and Paraguay, and
also in the Venezuelan ‘llanos’ (Sarmiento 1983),
thus the percentage of species restricted within
Brazil is higher than the percentage of endemic
Cerrado lato sensu species found in the country.
The “Terra firme” forest is undoubtedly the
most species rich vegetation type of the Amazon
Rainforest biome, however the percentage of both
restricted and endemic species are lower than for
the former two, a fact that is fully justified by the
vast sections of Amazon Rainforest found in the
lowland areas of neighbouring countries such as
Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and the Guianas, with
many species widely distributed through many of
these and beyond.
The ‘Campos rupestres’, with their shared
distribution in the Cerrado (Minas Gerais, Goiás,
Tocantins) and Caatinga biomes (Bahia) occupy
the fourth place in number of species, with 40.5%
of the 4,928 being restricted to this vegetation type,
with nearly all of those (39.6%) being also endemic
to this vegetation type in Brazil. It is possible now
to point to the fact that this extremely biodiverse
vegetation type contributes towards the relatively
high endemism percentages found at the biome level
both for the Caatinga and Cerrado biomes. Recent
data from the Serra do Cipó reveal that, within a
single of mountain range, nearly three thousand
vascular plants can be found (Pirani et al. 2015).
In comparison, the Altitude Grassland in the
Atlantic Rainforest contributes with a small number
of species, reflecting its restricted geographic
spread, nonetheless with 21.8% of endemic
species. In contrast, for the Aquatic vegetation,
where the specialized life-forms and requirement
of the species have led to the highest percentage
of restricted species (45.1%), the percentage
of endemism is low because these species are
widely distributed throughout Brazil and also into
neighbouring countries.
Concluding remarks
The overall position of Brazil as the country
harbouring the highest plant diversity (Forzza
et al. 2012) continues to be accurate. Added to
this, the endemism levels found in Brazilian seed
plants continue to be outstanding, surpassed only
by large island floras (such as Australia, Papua
New Guinea, Madagascar), archipelagos (such as
New Caledonia, New Zealand, French Polynesia)
and South Africa (65%), the only other continental
country where levels of endemic flora surpass 50%.

1110 The Brazil Flora Group
Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
There was marked improvement in the list
as a realistic reference for species found in Brazil,
apart from the somewhat disappointing slow
growing records regarding the Amazon Rainforest
biome, partly reflected both in the numbers shown
for the biome, the Brazilian Northern region and
some states that are included in it (Acre, Amapá,
Amazonas, Pará, Roraima and Rondônia). On
the other hand, the results obtained reinforce
the important role of the Atlantic Rainforest and
Cerrado on the diversity of Angiosperms in Brazil,
and also of the Caatinga, as an exclusive Brazilian
biome. Considering their smaller surface area, both
Pampa and Pantanal contribute much towards the
Brazilian plant diversity, even if they share many
species with neighbouring countries.
When considering the richest vegetation types
in terms of their overall, restricted and endemic
species number, it is possible to see that the country
displays a balance between the forests and the more
open habitats. Amongst the six richest types, four
are forests (Ombrophilous, ‘Terra firme’, Gallery
and Semideciduous Seasonal forests) and two are
open vegetation types (‘Cerrado lato sensu’ and
‘Campo rupestre’). Amongst the restricted, two
forests (Ombrophilous and ‘Terra firme’) and four
open vegetation types (‘Campo rupestre’, ‘Cerrado
lato sensu’, Grassland and Altitude grassland).
When focusing on endemism, two are forests
(Ombrophilous and ‘Terra firme’) while four are
open habitats (‘Campo rupestre’, ‘Cerrado lato
sensu’, Altitude grassland and Rock outcrops).
The elevated total number of native species
recorded for Anthropized areas (2,167) may
still partly reflect different concepts used by
contributors. The importance of this data, which
includes a large number of possible pioneer plants
with potential for reforestation and re-establishment
of natural habitats cannot be underestimated (Elliott
et al. 2013).
Extremely interesting data have been
compiled during the second phase of this endeavour,
enabling more refined analysis of biomes according
to habit, substrate and vegetation types. While the
Brazilian forested biomes, namely the Amazon
and Atlantic Rainforests, have respectively 1:2
(one tree to two shrubby/herbaceous species) and
1:4 (one tree to four shrubby/herbaceous species),
savannic biomes, such as Cerrado, Caatinga and
Pantanal, have ratios of 1:6, 1:7 and 1:8. In the
grass dominated Pampa, the ratio is 1:31. After
the predominant terrestrial habit, the second
highest group are the epiphytes, more expressive
in the Atlantic Rainforest and pushing up the
numbers of Orchidaceae and Bromeliaceae into the
higher positions in terms of species rich families.
Rupicolous plants are very expressive in the
Caatinga, Cerrado and Pampa. Doubtlessly more
interesting links can be found by further refining
the data made available in this study.
Less well-known areas, such as the states
of Tocantins, southern Maranhão, Piauí and
northwestern Bahia, have shown increased volume
of data. A large proportion of this biodiversity
corresponds to the portions of these states covered
by the Cerrado biome (2,130 of the 2,306 species
found in Tocantins; 1,977 of the 2,855 species from
Maranhão; 1,621 of the 1,992 from Piauí; and 1,977
of the 8,970 from Bahia). However, the future of
the Cerrado natural resources is threatened by
concerted efforts from the Brazilian government
and national and international investors to further
expand the arable land for soybean, cotton,
sugarcane, and rice production (MaToPiBa 2015).
The Cerrado in these states is already responsible
for 10% of the country’s grain production, however
the recent growth of the knowledge regarding the
plant species found in these states between 2010
and 2015, with Piauí’s plant list growing by 40.7%
and Tocantins by a staggering 70.3% suggests that
such knowledge may still be far from complete.
During the last five years, the relatively slow
increase of the knowledge regarding the species
found in the Amazon Rainforest is concerning,
especially when we take into account the rampant
deforestation and habitat change (large scale
agriculture including soybean and cattle farming,
construction of hydroelectric dams with huge
immediate and long term impact on the environment,
large-scale mining), all this supported by government
sectors that are increasingly averse to conservation
and hostile towards Brazil’s need to preserve its
natural habitats through protected areas.
Acknowledgements
Ministry of Science and Technology - MCTI;
Brazilian National Research Council - CNPq;
The Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute for Graduate
Studies and Research in Engineering at the Federal
University of Rio de Janeiro - COPPE/UFRJ;
Information Technology Department of the Rio de
Janeiro Botanical Gardens - TI JBRJ; to Alexandre
Antonelli and two anonymous reviewers that
contributed valuable comments to the manuscript;

Seed Plant diversity in Brazil.
Rodriguésia 66(4): 1085-1113. 2015
1111
and to all the herbarium curators that work hard to
make data and images available for consultation
worldwide.
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