List of angiosperm species of the riparian vegetation of the Apodi-Mossoró River, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

This article describes the riparian vegetation of a river in the Rio Grande do Norte state for the first time. This is a seasonal river in the semiarid region of the Caatinga biome. The study is based on data from herbarium collections and new expeditions from July 2007 to October 2008. Two hundred and forty seven taxa were recorded and of these, 116 are herbs and three of which are epiphytes, 25 sub-shrubs, 77 shrubs or trees, 26 lianas, one parasite, and two palms. This list of species of riparian vegetation in the river Apodi-Mossoro was compared with only two available lists from rivers in the northeast with similar environmental characteristics and showed a low similarity. This study points to the need for preservation of the species and remnants of riparian vegetation of the river Apodi-Mossoro and to increase efforts in the study of this vegetation type.