Aspects of the flora and secondary vegetation in the restinga from Santa Catarina state, south Brazil

Abstract

The Brazilian restinga is an assemblage of coastal sandy ecosystems with floristically and physiognomically distinct communities. These plant communities colonize sediments of very diverse origins (marine, fluvial, lagoonal, eolian, or combinations of these), forming an edaphic vegetational complex that occupies a narrow belt along the coast, including such distinct regions as beaches, dunes and associated depressions, sand ridges, terraces and plains. In the restinga from Santa Catarina (south Brazil), 3 primary phytophysiognomies (herbaceous/subshrubby, shrubby [scrub], and arboreal) are recognized and described (emphasizing the flora), as well as the successional stages produced by anthropic activities, including a preliminary list of endangered or rare or endemic plant species.