Background:

Roadside plants grow along transportation routes, and are little studied.

Questions:

What is the richness of roadside angiosperms? What is the percentage of native and introduced species for roadside angiosperms?

Species studied:

Native and introduced roadside angiosperms.

Site and years of study:

Chalma-Malinalco roadside, municipality of Malinalco, State of Mexico, Mexico, May 2008-April 2009.

Methods:

Angiosperm species were collected along the road right-of-way during 24 biweekly walks. Additionally, species were listed and their cover estimated in 14 sampling sites (4 m2 each).

Results:

We recorded 327 species. Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Poaceae were the families with the highest richness of genera and species. Native species were dominant (85.9 %), whereas introduced species grouped 14.1 %; the latter came mainly from the Old World. About 70 % of the species were herbs. Bouteloua repens and Eleusine indica had the highest cover and frequency, respectively.

Conclusions:

The roadside flora was rich in angiosperms, mostly herbs, and with a dominance of native plants. Introduced grasses played an outstanding role in terms of frequency. It is necessary to continue with floristic, ecological and ethnobotanical research, among others, on this group of plants that has been scarcely studied.

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