Vascular plant richness in the Mariposas de Cristal Ecological Trail, Parcelación Señora María Rosa, Cajibío-Cauca (Colombia)

Abstract

The Mariposas de Cristal Ecological Trail is a forest remnant located in the Parcelación Señora María Rosa, in the village of La Venta, municipality of Cajibío, department of Cauca, on km 14 of the Panamerican Highway between Popayán and Cali, it corresponds to a narrow strip of continuous gallery forest that protects two streams that delimit the parcel; it includes gentle slopes, which vary between 1830 and 1880 meters above sea level. With the purpose of knowing the richness of vascular plants present in the ecological path, a richness that can become a possible source of propagules for the ecological restoration of nearby places, monthly samplings were made, herborizing the fertile specimens and registering those species in vegetative state. We found 100 families, 246 genera and 346 species, of which 328 are native and 18 are introduced. There is a predominance of the families Asteraceae, Orchidaceae, Poaceae, Rubiaceae, Fabaceae, Melastomataceae, Piperaceae and Solanaceae; the dominant growth habit corresponds to herbs and subshrubs, followed by shrubs and trees. Many of these species are of interest for the production of flowers and fruits used by fauna or for their contribution to the dynamics of the forest area and the maintenance of diversity.