Background:

El Palmito Sanctuary is part of one of the terrestrial priority regions from Mexico. It stands out for its diversity of birds, and hosts one of northernmost cloud mountain forests in the Pacific slope. However, it lacks a systematic inventory of its flora.

Questions:

What are the types of vegetation and their characteristic elements in the Sanctuary? How many and which families, genera and species of vascular plants are host? What are the biological forms present in the area? Are there species under any protection category?

Species of study:

Vascular plants.

Study site and years of study:

El Palmito Sanctuary, Sinaloa, Mexico; October 2017 to October 2018.

Methods:

Sampling of the flora was done every month for one year. The specimens were identified with the help of specialized literature, specialized taxonomists and comparison with herbarium specimens. The inventory was complemented with online databases and herbarium specimens.

Results:

492 species, 285 genera and 103 families were registered. Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Orchidaceae, Poaceae, Fagaceae and Lamiaceae were the richest families. 53 new records are reported for Sinaloa. The predominant live forms were herbs (370 spp.), then shrubs (73) and trees (60). Moreover, 14 species (2.8 %) were registered in one of the risk categories of NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 and IUCN.

Conclusions:

The high percentage of new records for the Sinaloa’s flora indicates the need to continue with the explorations in the entity.

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