ABSTRACT
The floristic and the structure of the Upper Montane Rain Forest, on five different mountains, along Serra do Mar, PR, were evaluated. Primary fragments, always above 1.250 m above sea level, were measured, with 10 rectangular samples (5 x 10m) (GBH > 10 cm) for each site. There were registered 55 species (36 gen., 24 fam.). Including other author’s data, it was possible to reveal that Ilex microdonta is the most important species, followed by Drimys brasiliensis, Ocotea catharinensis, Blepharocalyx salicifolius and Gordonia fruticosa. It was observed the high arborous density, with more than 4.490 trees per hectare, which configures a single stratum, and medium height of 4 m. On cluster analysis the best results were obtained by using the Importance Value. The minor stand similarity was registered among the sites on “morro do Araçatuba” (1.610 m) and “morro do Vigia” (1.280 m), indicating that the altitude factor has a powerful influence on this aspect. Although the Jaccard´s index for all the sites revealed that despite of the structure significant differences, in relation to the floristic all of these were considered similar.
Key words:
upper montane forest; Serra do Mar; floristic and structure