Lagoons, rivers, weirs and their wet gardens in the semiarid: aquatic Eudicotyledons and Ceratophyllaceae of Ceará state, Brazil

Abstract

Ceará state holds the second largest wetland extension in Northeastern Brazil and, thus far, there have been taxonomic studies developed about aquatic macrophytes richness for the clades of Monocots and Nymphaeales, and of two Eudicot families only. In this context, the present study is a synopsis of the aquatic representatives of Eudicotyledons and Ceratophyllaceae in Ceará state, providing further information about the biodiversity of aquatic ecosystems in the Brazilian semiarid. We present an updated survey based on material deposited at the EAC, IPA, R and RB herbaria and on images from digital platforms, including diagnostic descriptions, identification keys, photographs and comments about geographic distribution. We recorded 28 families, 43 genera and 82 species. The most representative families were Lentibulariaceae (12 spp.), Malvaceae (9 spp.), Plantaginaceae (9 spp.), Fabaceae (8 spp.) and Onagraceae (7 spp.), whilst Ceratophyllaceae was represented by one species only. Helophytes were the predominant growth form (64%), followed by the bottom-rooted emergent hydrophytes (20%), and Podostemaceae was the only family represented by haptophytes (4 spp.).

Key words
aquatic macrophytes; flora of Ceará; Northeastern Brazil; semiarid region; wetlands