Floristic richness of homegardens in the Semiarid of the state of Paraiba, Brasil

Abstract

The homegardens are one of the oldest and most important forms of land use, food guarantee and income of small farmers. So, it was aimed to characterize the floristic composition of the homegardensin Paraiba’s Cariri. Were selected two rural communities in the municipality of Sumé, using as criterion sampling homegardens maintained with traditional technology, family labor assets. For data collection was used floristic survey and homegardens area measuring. Were recorded 118 species in 49 families and 101 genera. Families with greater richness were Fabaceae (18 species), Euphorbiaceae (nine species), Anacardiaceae and Solanaceae (six species each). The fruit species had higher incidence, andintroduced species predominated in relation to native. The species richness index was higher in homegardens with smaller areas and the similarity between areas was considered low. The research helped to define the floristic profile of homegardens in rural communities by providing information for the implementation of agroforestry systems