The campos rupestres form a mosaic of rocky savannas concentrated mainly along the Espinhaço chain, on the Brazilian shield. Though the Serra de São José lies over 100 km to the south of the Espinhaço chain, the campo rupestre flora of this small range harbors several endemic plant taxa. The provided checklist is the result of two decades of floristic research complemented with data from herbaria and literature. The flora is compared with the results of several other pertinent surveys. A total of 1,144 vascular plant species, representing 50.3 species/km2, were documented to date in the São José range, representing a species-richness per unit area over five times greater than other known campo rupestre floras. The most species-rich families were the Asteraceae (126 species), Orchidaceae (106), Melastomataceae (63), Leguminosae (60), Cyperaceae (45), Poaceae (41), Rubiaceae (37), Myrtaceae (28), Bromeliaceae (27), Eriocaulaceae (23), Lamiaceae (23), and Malpighiaceae (22).