摘要:FLORISTIC COMPOSITION, SPECIES RICHNESS, AND DIVERSITY OF THE SEASONALLY DRY TROPICAL FOREST IN THE FLORISTIC PROVINCE OF THE BALSAS DEPRESSION, MEXICO, IS DESCRIBED. WE SAMPLED FOUR 1,000 M2 SITES AND RECORDED SPECIES AND DBH OF TREES, SHRUBS AND LIANAS >_1 CM DBH. DATA FROM 1,456 INDIVIDUALS WERE RECORDED, REPRESENTING 82 SPECIES, 56 GENERA, AND 24 FAMILIES. INDEPENDENTLY OF SITE OR GROWTH FORM, LEGUMINOSAE WAS THE FAMILY WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF SPECIES AND INDIVIDUALS. BURSERA (BURSERACEAE) AND CORDIA (BORAGINACEAE) WERE THE MOST SPECIOSE GENERA, WITH NINE AND FOUR SPECIES, RESPECTIVELY. SPECIES RICHNESS AMONG SITES RANGED FROM 43-55 SPECIES AND THEIR SIMILARITY WAS HIGHER AT THE FAMILY LEVEL THAN THE SPECIES LEVEL. TREES HAD HIGHER NUMBERS OF SPECIES THAN SHRUBS AND LIANAS. OUR RESULTS INDICATE THAT THESE FORESTS HAVE LOW VALUES OF SPECIES RICHNESS AND STRUCTURE ATTRIBUTES IN RELATION WITH OTHER TROPICAL DRY FORESTS OF MEXICO AND THE WORLD.