Contributions to the floristic and vegetation knowledge of Espinhaço Septentrional, Bahia, Brazil

The Espinhaco range is a mountain chain that extends from the municipality of Ouro Preto in Minas Gerais to the Chapada Diamantina region in Bahia, eastern Brazil. The Serra Geral of Licinio de Almeida (SGLA) is located in the Espinhaco Septentrional in southwestern Bahia, and its biodiversity is still poorly known. In order to contribute to a better understanding of floristic diversity and the vegetation of SGLA, we have compiled a checklist of its flowering plants and characterized the phyto-physiognomy of the different plant formations. A total of 811 species in 410 genera and 97 families are recorded in our study. Based on floristic composition and ecological parameters, we recognize five plant formations as follows: (1) deciduous forest, (2) semi-deciduous forest, (3) “Cerrado” s.str., (4) rocky fields (“Campos Rupestres”), and (5) rocky Caatinga (“Caatinga Rupestre”). Our results indicate that the SGLA is a transitional area between the “Cerrado” and “Caatinga” domains and constitutes an ecological corridor that links the northern and southern portions of the Espinhaco Range supported by 24 new occurrences recorded for the state of Bahia.