Flora of Guane and Paso Real hills ranges, Pinar del Río, Cuba

• Main Authors: Zenia Acosta Ramos, José Angel García-Beltrán
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad de La Habana 2021-05-01
• Series: Revista del Jardín Botánico Nacional
• Subjects: complejo de vegetación de mogotes; distrito viñalense; flora cársica; pombalia attenuata; sierra de los órganos
• Online Access: http://www.rjbn.uh.cu/index.php/RJBN/article/view/546

Sierra de Guane and Sierra de Paso Real are located in the most southwestern portion of the Faja de Mogotes of the Sierra de Los Órganos and are part of the Viñalense district. This study presents the floristic checklist of both hills belonging to Guane, wherein a mogotes vegetation complex develops. There were 273 taxa (78 endemic) representative of the flora of the mogotes of Western Cuba and 15 exotic ones. In the Sierra de Guane, 221 species were found and 199 in the Sierra de Paso Real, 138 species shared between both hill, where the shrubs and trees as a whole predominate over the other life habits, as well as the endemic species of Cuba and the elements of the Neotropics. Both hills stand out among the inventoried mogotes of Western Cuba for being the greatest in diversity and endemism, only surpassed by the Sierra de la Güira and the Sierra del Infierno, respectively. Pombalia attenuata (Violaceae) is recorded for the first time for Cuba and the Antilles. The threatened flora represents 19.7 % of the registered native taxa, of which 39 are endemic, therefore an important conservation strategy in the area is the approval and administration of a protected area that encompasses the two mountain ranges under study. Citation: Acosta, Z. & García-Beltrán, J.A. 2021. Flora de las Sierras de Guane y de Paso Real, Pinar del Río, Cuba. Revista Jard. Bot. Nac. Univ. Habana 42: 137-155. Received: 14 December 2020. Accepted: 14 April 2021. Online: 31 May 2021. Editor: Luis Manuel Leyva.