Summary
Included here the southeastern coast of Brazil and its associated islands including the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha. The area is largely characterised by the so-called Atlantic Forest or Mata Atlântica, which stretches along Brazil's Atlantic coast from the northern state of Rio Grande do Norte south to Rio Grande do Sul. It also extends inland to eastern Paraguay and into the province of Misiones in northeastern Argentina and there is a narrow zone along the coast into Uruguay. These forests include tropical and sub-tropical moist forest, tropical dry forest, tropical savanna, semi-deciduous forest and mangrove forests.
Of the endemic vascular plants so far recorded in this major biodiversity hotspot there are about 7216 species in 1054 genera and 168 families. There are 138 endemic genera (marked red) but apparently no endemic families. However, Calyceraceae is confined to temperate and sub-tropical South America, Caryocaraceae, Cyclanthaceae, Lecythidaceae, Marcgraviaceae, Peraceae, Picramniaceae, Picrodendraceae, Quiinaceae, Theophrastaceae and Tropaeolaceae are all confined to the neotropics, and Bromeliaceae is mainly confined to sub-tropical and tropical America and the West Indies apart from one species in West Africa.
References
Clay, R. & Fragano, F. 2003. Biodiversity status of the interior Atlantic forest of Paraguay. In: The Atlantic Forest of South America. Eds. C. Calindo-Leal and I. de G. Câmara. Island Press.
João Renato Stehmann, Rafaela Campostrini Forzza, Alexandre Salino, Marcos Sobral, Denise Pinheiro da Costa e Luciana H. Yoshino Kamino. 2009. Plantas da Floresta Atlântica. Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro.
Márcio de Souza Werneck, Marcos Eduardo Guerra Sobral, Cinthia Tamara, Vieira Rocha, Elena Charlotte Landau & João Renato Stehmann. 2011. Distribution and Endemism of Angiosperms in the Atlantic Forest. Natureza & Conservação, 9:188-193.
Martini, A. M. Z., Fiaschi, P., Amorim, A. M. & Paixão, J. L. D. 2007. A hot-point within a hot–spot: a high diversity site in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. Biodiversity and Conservation, 16: 3111-3128.
Murray-Smith, C., Brummitt, N. A., Oliveira-Filho, A. T., Bachman, S., Moat, J., Lughadha, E. M. N., & Lucas, E. J. 2008. Plant diversity hotspots in the Atlantic Coastal Forests of Brazil. Conservation Biology, 23: 151-163.
Wayt Thomas, W. M., De Carvalho, A. M. V., Amorim, A. M. A., Garrison, J. & Arbelaez, A. L. 1998. Plant endemism in two forests in southern Bahai, Brazil. Biodiversity and Conservation, 7: 311-322.