ARAUCA | Taxonline

História

Botanical collections

Herbário da Universidade Estadual do Centro-Oeste
Guarapuava (ARAUCA)

The ARAUCA Herbarium is the botanical collection of the Universidade Estadual do Centro-Oeste (UNICENTRO), located in Guarapuava, Paraná State, Brazil, and registered in the Index Herbariorum under the code “ARAUCA-UNICENTRO.” The mission of ARAUCA is to document, preserve, and make accessible the flora and fungi of the Center-South region of Paraná, supporting activities in teaching, research, outreach, and conservation. Its collection is available for consultation and study by students, professors, and researchers. The herbarium’s holdings are primarily composed of specimens from the Araucaria Forest (Araucaria Moist Forest) and adjacent areas in contact with the Highland Grasslands of the Guarapuava Plateau, as well as transitional regions with the Semi-deciduous Seasonal Forest. These phytophysiognomies harbor an expressive diversity of native species, many of them rare or threatened with extinction.

The ARAUCA Herbarium currently houses approximately 4,000 specimens, a number that continues to grow each year given its recent establishment and ongoing expansion. The collection includes threatened species, first regional records, and reference specimens for floristic and ecological studies in southern Brazil.

Among the most representative groups—reflecting the typical vegetation of the region—are:

• Myrtaceae, a highly diverse family in the Araucaria Forest, including species of Campomanesia, Myrcia, Eugenia, and Acca;

• Asteraceae and Poaceae, dominant in grassland formations;

• Lauraceae (such as imbuia and cinnamon trees) and Araucariaceae, with the emblematic Araucaria angustifolia; • Pteridophytes, especially ferns associated with humid and forested environments, including tree ferns of the genera Dicksonia and Cyathea, characteristic of high-altitude and shaded understory habitats of the Mixed Ombrophilous Forest.