Designation State park Administrator IEMA Nearest city Castelo | Created 2 January 1992 Area 8 km² | |
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The Mata das Flores State Park (Portuguese: Parque Estadual de Mata das Flores) is a State park in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil.
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Location
The Mata das Flores State Park is in the municipality of Castelo, Espírito Santo, with an area of about 800 hectares (2,000 acres). It is surrounded by coffee plantations. It holds an important remnant of Atlantic Forest and provides an ecological corridor from the warmer lowlands to the higher and colder Forno Grande and Pedra Azul state parks. The park is popular for hiking and cycling among the large trees.
The main biome is dense montane semideciduous rainforest. Vegetation include Cedrela, Cassia, bromeliads and palms. The park contains examples of the giant jequitibá rosa (Cariniana legalis) as well as delicate orchids. It takes ten adults holding hands to encircle some of the jequitibás, which may be over 3,000 years old. Fauna include hawks, toucans, owls, pacas, foxes, sloths, hedgehogs and capuchin monkeys.
History
The Mata das Flores State Park was created by state law 4.617 of 2 January 1992. It became part of the Central Atlantic Forest Ecological Corridor, created in 2002.