Floristic composition in the ecological trail of the Municipal Natural Park Fazenda Santa Cecília do Ingá, Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

The Municipal Natural Park Fazenda Santa Cecília do Ingá, is situated in Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Its global coordenates are 22°27’34’’S latitude and 44°4’51’’W longitude. It presents 211ha and its vegetation is consisted of Atlantic forest trying to find some equilibrium. The objective of this work was to contribute to the knowledge about the ecological trail flora, and it can be used for environmental educational projects in order to establish some formation of interpretative trails offering to visitors the understanding or the natural resources protection aspects. It was used 10 plots of 200m x 2.5m, resulting in 0.5ha. These plots were distributed along the trail borders in their both sides. It was considered a DBH (Diameter at Breast Height) higher than 5.0 only for arborous individuals on reproductive or vegetative conditions. Herbaceous species were only sampled by means of their reproductive condition. A total of 586 individuals were sampled, which are distributed in 47 families, 105 genera and 119 species of angiosperms. The families with more representative species were Fabaceae (18), Asteraceae (18), Malvaceae (8), Euphorbiaceae (4), Melastomataceae (4), Solanaceae (4), Lamiaceae (4), Verbenaceae (3), Lauraceae (3), and Nyctaginaceae (2). The most important species in number of specimens were Clitoria fairchildiana R.A. Howard (50), Cecropia glaziovi Snethlage (25), Nectandra oppositifolia Nees (21), Miconia discolor DC. (18), and Allophylus edulis (St. Hil.) (13). Through the analyzed data, it could be concluded that the studied area is suitable for the development of environmental educational projects, besides it is one of the few areas of Atlantic native forest in the state of Rio de Janeiro.