Floristic and functional identity of rupestrian grasslands as a subsidy for environmental restoration and policy

•The absence of consensus about floristic identity in rupestrian grasslands has resulted in major academic and legal disagreements.•The vegetation of rupestrian grassland presents the highest similarity with Cerrado and forest vegetation depending on the level of organization.•Quartzitic and ironstone ecosystems show floristic similarities especially when functional attributes of plant growth and life forms are evaluated.•The vegetation types show almost complete turnover in species assemblage and only a small suite of species shared between vegetation types.•This singularity of vegetation types reinforces the importance of considering each floristic identity as a potential support to conservation planning and restoration.