Vascular flora of the Legado das Águas , Reserva Votorantim , municipalities of Tapiraí , Miracatú and Juquiá , São Paulo , Brazil

We present a list of vascular plants found in Legado das Águas, Reserva Votorantim, a private reserve having an area of approximately 35,000 ha that spans the municipalities of Tapiraí, Miracatú, and Juquiá, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The reserve is part of a complex of state-protected areas including Alto Ribeira Touristic State Park, Intervales State Park , Carlos Botelho State Park, Jurupará State Park, and Serra do Mar State Park. Together, these form an important and large area of continuous and well-preserved forest. Our study, which involved two main floristic surveys in March/April 2013 and April 2014, recorded 768 species, representing 131 families and 432 genera. The majority of species were angiosperms (619) representing 106 families and 370 genera. There were also two species of gymnosperms belonging to two genera in separate families; 147 species of ferns and lycophytes belonging to 23 families and 60 genera. In demonstrating the presence of almost 800 species of plants, of which 16 are threatened, our study highlights the importance of floristic surveys and the critical role of private protected areas in managing and preserving native flora.


INTRODUCTION
The Brazilian Atlantic Forest biome is recognized as one of the five priority areas worldwide for conservation because of its high species richness, levels of endemic species, and loss of area due to anthropogenic activities (Myers et al. 2000;Mittermeier et al. 2004).While these 'hotspots' cover a mere 0.4% of the Earth's surface, they comprise about 20% of all plant species (Myers et al. 2000).However, this rich biodiversity is poorly documented even in national scientific collections (Giulietti et al. 2005).Although there are publications that focus on the state of current vegetation, authors disagree about the percentage of intact forest remaining, which may vary from 8% to 16% (Myers et al. 2000;Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica and INPE 2014;Ribeiro et al. 2009).

Lists of species
Thus, the main objective of our study is to document the vascular flora from Legado das Águas, Reserva Votorantim, hereafter called the Reserva Votorantim.We contributing botanical records to enhance information on biodiversity, plant life forms, species distribution; and compiling a species list of the Votorantim protected area for use by the three municipalities of Tapiraí, Miracatú, and Juquiá.

Study site
The Reserva Votorantim covers an area of ca.35,000 ha within the boundaries of the municipalities of Tapiraí, Miracatú and Juquiá (centroid at 24.03° S, 047.38°W, datum WGS84).The reserve consists of Atlantic Forest vegetation, mostly well preserved (Kronka et al. 2005; Figure 1), and was part of the original Atlantic Forest (Figure 2).
The climate of the region surrounding the Reserva Votorantim is classified as Cfa, subtropical and warm (Cepagri 2015) according to the classification of Köppen (1948).The soil is classified as Cambisol, which is along the coastal region of Brazil (Fundação S.O.S Mata Atlântica and INPE 2014).Although generally characterized as rainforest (Galindo-Leal and Câmara 2003), other authors emphasize both floristic and physiognomic heterogeneity due to climatic variation associated with broad ranges in latitude (ca.27 degrees), longitude (from the coast to the interior), and altitude (sea level to ca. 2,700 m; Scarano 2002;Oliveira-Filho and Fontes 2000).Indeed, Atlantic Forest vegetation is diverse, characterized by trees up to 50 m high, numerous epiphytes, lianas, shrubs, ferns, and herbs, and with high rates of endemism (Mori et al. 1981).
Reportedly, 82% of the area of São Paulo state was once covered by Atlantic forest (Leitão-Filho 1994).Today, the remaining forests are mainly located in areas of rugged topography where anthropogenic activities are not widespread, such as the region of Serra do Mar (Leitão-Filho 1994).While numerous botanical studies have focused on the Atlantic Forest in São Paulo state (Salino and Almeida 2008;Lima et al. 2011), many of the extensive and important private areas have not been surveyed.characterized by the presence of an incipient or undeveloped B-horizon (IBGE 2007).Typically, the thickness of this subsoil horizon is between 10-50 cm, and 5% or more of its volume consists of the original rock, which is predominantly yellowish and reddish due to the segregation of iron oxides (IBGE 2007).
Today, the area is owned by the Votorantim Group, one of the largest industrial conglomerates in Latin America, a multi-industry company whose activities include mining, paper pulp production, steel manufacturing, and finance.The reserve was acquired by the Votorantim Group in two stages (1920 and 1950), for the purpose of harnessing water resources and energy.Since 2012, the area has been recognized as a nature reserve and conservation has become one of the company's primary goals.The Reserva Votorantim is the largest privately owned area of Atlantic Forest in Brazil.It increase the area of a complex of state-protected areas that include the Touristic State Park of Alto Ribeira, Intervales State Park, Carlos Botelho State Park, Jurupará State Park, and Serra do Mar State Park.Together with Reserva Votorantim, these form an important and large area of continuous and well-preserved forest (Figure 2).

Data collection
Our study consisted of two main periods of fieldwork.The first 15-day expedition took place between March and April 2013 during the Field Taxonomy Course headed Escola Superior de Agricultura -Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ/USP), Universidade de São Paulo (IB/USP), and Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp).The second 15-day expedition was carried out in April 2014.
We extensively sampled along transects throughout the whole reserve in order to document and collect all vascular plant life forms, including ferns and licophytes.We deposited the majority of our specimens in ESA, UEC, SPSF, BHCB, SPF and RB herbaria (acronyms according to Thiers 2016).The first set of duplicates was deposited in the ESA herbarium, available at INCT virtual herbarium (http://inct.splink.org.br/).In the case of specimens for species Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.)Kuntze, no voucher specimens were collected due to challenges of collecting in the field, coupled with the ease of identifying the species visually.

Data analysis
Species were identified by referring to expert literature and identification keys, comparing material in herbaria, and consulting specialists.The classification of species follows APG III (2009) for angiosperms, Smith et al. (2008), with modifications proposed by Rothfels et al. (2012), for ferns, and Øllgaard (1992, 2012) for lycophytes.Species names used are those currently accepted by the List of Species of the Brazilian Flora (LSBF 2015), which also served as a criterion for doubtful circumscriptions.For current information on threatened species we followed the state and national lists of threatened flora (Estado de São Paulo 2004; CNCFLORA 2016).
Nine of the angiosperms and one gymnosperm species are considered threatened (Estado de São Paulo 2004; CNCFLORA 2016; Table 1).
Six species of the ferns and lycophytes are considered threatened (Estado de São Paulo 2004; Table 2).

DISCUSSION
The results of our study were largely consistent with those of several other floral studies in São Paulo state.For example, Mamede et al. (2001) found 756 vascular plant species in the Serra da Juréia, and Lima et al. (2011) found 1,143 species in Carlos Botelho State Park.However, whereas we found that Rubiaceae was the richest family in the Reserva Votorantim, other studies in São Paulo state showed Myrtaceae, Fabaceae, and Orchidaceae as predominant (Lima et al. 2011;Kortz 2014).This difference may be attributable to a bias in our sampling process, as certain specimens, mainly Myrtaceae and Fabaceae, were collected when sterile, and consequently we were unable to identify them to species.
Euterpe edulis Mart is widely exploited and traded by local people who remove the edible palm hearts, causing the death of the plant.Although this species is considered threatened (Estado de São Paulo 2004), we found in abundance.This is likely due to the restricted access, which leads to virtually no exploitation and emphasizes the importance of protecting large forest fragments.On the other hand, the presence of the threatened Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.)Kuntze in the reserve is probably more recent according to historical reports; occurrences are possibly due to the nearby plantations of this species.
We also found a new record of the genus Ferdinandusa (Rubiaceae) for the state of São Paulo, and we cannot yet identify the specimen at species level.Although there is a specimen in the SPSF herbarium identified as Ferdinandusa speciosa (Pohl) Pohl, (SPSF 44152), it has not yet been determined by an expert in the Rubiaceae.Until now, nothing was published on the genus in São Paulo (Jung-Mendaçoli et al. 2007;Anunciação and Calió 2015).The southernmost limit for the genus was believed to be in Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso do Sul (Anunciação and Calió 2015).
We collected many naturalized species in the reserve, including Centella asiatica (L.) Urb, Asclepias curassavica L., Bidens pilosa L., Impatiens walleriana Hook.F., Desmodium adscendens (Sw.)DC., D. incanum DC., Hedychium coronarium J. Koenig, and Zingiber officinale Roscoe.This attests to the history of human disturbances in the Reserva Votorantim.The area has several intersecting roads, most of which have been deactivated with the abandonment of adjoining buildings.
We found that the richness of ferns and lycophytes the Reserva Votorantim (147 species) was consistent with other studies in the state, e.g., Jacupiranga State Park (212 species; Salino and Almeida 2008) and Carlos Botelho State Park (123 species; Lima et al. 2011).According to Prado and Hirai (2011), the number of ferns and lycophytes that we found represents >25% of the total fern and lycophyte species in São Paulo state.The high number of ferns and lycophytes in the Reserva Votorantim is likely attributable to its size and preservation in conjunction with yearlong high humidity levels, which is important for reproduction of ferns and lycophytes.
In some cases, we were unable to identify sterile specimens to species due to the limits imposed by the timing of our fieldwork.We expect that future surveys done in other seasons and in unexplored areas will likely increase the number of species for many families, such as Myrtaceae and Orchidaceae, as new fertile specimens are collected and recorded.
Our study represents the first floristic survey in the municipalities of Tapiraí, Miracatu, and Juquiá.The presence of almost 800 plant species, including 16 threatened species, highlights the importance of The results of our floristic survey of the Reserva Votorantim support the concept that the reserve increases greatly a complex of state parks that together form a large, mostly continuous, and well-preserved fragment of Atlantic Forest.Our list of species is the first step towards building the local biodiversity knowledge base.This may be used to ensure effective prioritization, planning and management of future conservation efforts to preserve the invaluable natural heritage of this region.
Finally we would like to express our deep appreciation for the support of the botanical experts consulted on the identification of taxa, and the anonymous referees.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Different habitats in the Reserva Votorantim. A. Riparian forest.B. Interior of the forest, along a trail.C. A road crossing the reserve.D. The forest edge.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Location of the study area, Reserva Votorantim in Brazil (A) and São Paulo state (B).C. The Reserva Votorantim (red outline) and neighboring state parks (green).