The Mata das Flores State Park ( pt, Parque Estadual de Mata das Flores) is a
State park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...
in the state of
Espírito Santo, Brazil.
Location
The Mata das Flores State Park is in the municipality of
Castelo, Espírito Santo, with an area of about .
It is surrounded by coffee plantations.
It holds an important remnant of
Atlantic Forest
The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...
and provides an ecological corridor from the warmer lowlands to the higher and colder
Forno Grande and
Pedra Azul
Pedra Azul ( Portuguese for "blue stone") is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, located in the northeast of the state, in the Jequitinhonha River valley region. The population in 2020 was 24,329 in a total area of 1,61 ...
state parks.
The park is popular for hiking and cycling among the large trees.
The main biome is dense montane semideciduous rainforest.
Vegetation include ''
Cedrela'', ''
Cassia'',
bromeliad
The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...
s and
palms.
The park contains examples of the giant ''jequitibá rosa'' (''
Cariniana legalis
''Cariniana legalis'' is a species of emergent rainforest tree in the Monkeypot family Lecythidaceae. It is found in the Atlantic forest of south-eastern Brazil, where is known as jequitibá-branco or jequitibá-rosa, and possibly found in Col ...
'') as well as delicate orchids.
It takes ten adults holding hands to encircle some of the ''jequitibás'', which may be over 3,000 years old.
Fauna include
hawk
Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica.
* The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. Th ...
s,
toucans,
owls,
pacas,
fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelv ...
es,
sloths,
hedgehogs and
capuchin monkeys.
History
The Mata das Flores State Park was created by state law 4.617 of 2 January 1992.
It became part of the
Central Atlantic Forest Ecological Corridor, created in 2002.
Notes
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mata das Flores State Park
1992 establishments in Brazil
Protected areas established in 1992
Protected areas of Espírito Santo
State parks of Brazil