The biogeographical province Pantepui, which is herewith defined as the entirety of orographic ecosystems developed in the table mountains ("tepuis") of the Guayana Shield Region above 1.200/1.500 m a.s.1., presents a varied and highly evolved vegetation composed of a specialized flora of some 2.000 - 2.500 species. It harbours two endemic families, the Saccifoliaceae and the Tepuianthaceae, the latter with a somewhat wider extension into the Guayana lowlands. The most important families from the systematic as well ecologic point of view are the Asteraceae, Rubiaceae, Theaceae, Ochnaceae, Rapateaceae, Eriocaulaceae, Xyridaceae, Bromeliaceae, and Cyperaceae. The plant cover consists of a great number of different vegetation types, belonging essentially to four plant formations: the arboreal (low tepui forests), the scrub formation (tepui scrub, paramoid scrub), the herbaceous (tepui meadows), and the pioneer formation on open rocks (lithophytic vegetation). Other than the consistent stock of endemic, autochthonous taxa, the phytogeographical relationships of the Pantepui flora are with the high Andrean flora, the Guayanan and Amazonian lowland flora, the general neotropical flora, and the pantropical or cosmopolitan flora
Guayana; Tepui; Pantepui; Panlepui flora; Panlepui vegetation