Annotated List of the Vascular Plants at El Verde Field Station, El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico

Fabiola Areces Berazain; Victor J. Vega López; James D. Ackerman

Annotated List of the Vascular Plants at El Verde Field Station, El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico

Fabiola Areces Berazain¹^,*, Victor J. Vega López¹, and James D. Ackerman¹

¹University of Puerto Rico, Department of Biology, PO Box 23360, San Juan PR 00931-3360, USA. *Corresponding author.

Caribbean Naturalist, No. 16 (2014)

Abstract
The El Verde Field Station in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico has been the subject of intensive ecological research for more than five decades, focusing on ecosystem processes, food webs, and, most recently, forest dynamics, all of which require correct identification and naming of plant species. Here, we present an up-to-date list of the vascular plants recorded for the Field Station and the immediate surrounding area of the El Yunque National Forest. The list has been compiled from fieldwork as well as the revision of hundreds of specimens housed at several herbaria. It includes 633 taxa (530 native and 103 exotic) in 121 families and 394 genera. The total number of taxa represents 63.3% of the ~1000 species registered for the entire El Yunque National Forest. Of the native taxa, 172 are trees and shrubs. Sixty species are endemic to Puerto Rico, and five are restricted to El Yunque National Forest. The list is expected to assist those who work at the station as well as to contribute to the knowledge of the flora of the Luquillo Mountains and Puerto Rico.

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