Flora

Piúva

A wide variety of vegetation is found in Pantanal, The Cerrado, Atlantic Forest, Amazon and Bolivian and Paraguayan Chaco vegetation are all represented in the fields and groves of Pantanal. In the northern and northeastern regions of Pantanal, there is Amazon vegetation influence. The central and western regions show Cerrado influence. South of the Atlantic Forest and in the western and southwestern regions, the influence is left with the Paraguayan and Bolivian Chaco (a type of dry forest).

Pantanal's flora is directly connected to the rainy, flooded, vazante and dry seasons. In Pantanal, the terrestrial and aquatic vegetations overlap each other as the dry and rainy seasons exchange. Without the abundant and shallow underground water sheet and the alluvium left by the floods, the vegetation would look like the Cerrado or look somewhat like the Bolivian Chaco.

"The region is an interesting water paradox in an area with semi-arid of even arid continental climate. On the same way, the rich bird and mammal fauna depend, in its majority, upon aquatic feeding. Pantanal may be regarded as a large and dynamical interface between the water and the terrestrial world (Environment Ministry, 2001)".

The aquatic vegetation is fundamental for life in Pantanal. Immense areas are covered by floating plants, such as water hyacinths, sauvinias,  and water lettuce. Washed by the rivers, these plants make up true floating islands - the camalotes.

The carandá or wax-palm tree is found extensively in areas in which floods dominate, but stays dry during the winter, permeated by termite mounds, where the paratudal (Tabebuia aurea) begins, which are "forests" formed by yellow ipes (common name of several Brazilian trees and shrubs of the genus Tabebuia with purple and yellow flowers), locally called "Paratudo".

In higher areas, where the land does not flood, the particular vegetation of the cerrado and isolated areas with dense woods predominates. Around the more elevated river banks, inside the capoes (islands of forests) and cordillera, it is common to find the Acuri palm tree, alongside other trees such as Pau-de-novato, Cecropias, the Genipapo tree, Chimbuva (Brazilian Earpod tree), Carvão branco, Manduvi tree, and many species of Strangler figs, amongst others.