The present study was carried out at Praça de Esportes Forest, located on the campus of the Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Minas Gerais State. The fragment consists of a 10.65 ha forest in regeneration for 75 years. Four parallel transects mesuring 3 x 50 m, spaced 3 m, and divided into 10 plots of 3 x 5 m each were set for analysis. Sampling of natural regeneration layer included all individuals with height ≥0.3 m and DBH < 5 cm. We calculated the phytosociological parameters and classified the fragments into successional class and dispersion syndrome. The floristic composition was compared with several studies of regeneration in Viçosa, through cluster analysis. After analysis, we observed the occurrence of 30 families and 84 species, which the most important were Coffea arabica, Siparuna guianensis, Psychotria sessilisandErythroxylum pelleterianum. The late secondary successional class was the most representative (49.3% of individuals), and 91.6% of individuals presented dispersion syndrome zoochorous. No floristic similarity was observed between the studied area and other forest fragments of the region. The predominance of dispersion syndrome zoochorous in natural regeneration is an important factor to the continued maintenance of frugivorous in the area. The floristic richness and abundance of late secondary species are strong indications that the environment studied is offering ecological conditions suitable for the development of these species, thus allowing the advancement of secondary succession.
Understory; Floristic similarity; Phytosociology
