In this work, the vegetation richness, floristic composition and the structure of woody plants of 1 hectare of rocky cerrado ("cerrado rupestre") (CR) and 1 hectare of typical cerrado (CT), in eastern Mato Grosso, were compared. The observed (CT = 79 and CR = 71) and the estimated richness (CT = 86.7 ± 2.3 and CR = 75.8 ± 1.8), using bootstrap analysis, were higher in the CT, but the diversity index was the same for both physiognomies (3.58 in CT and 3.56 in CR; Hutcheson t test = t2;0.05 = 0.43, p > 0.05). Despite high floristic similarity (Sørensen = 0.75 and Morisita = 0.73), the ordination analysis (DCA) separated the CT and CR plots, which indicated species selection in both physiognomies. A percentage of dead individuals in CT (28.1%) and CR (17.3%), due to fires four months before sampling took place, was also found. The CR basal area per plot was higher, and densities per plot, heights and mean diameters of individuals did not differ between both physiognomies, which suggests that the shallow soil and rocky outcrop of CR have not limited the establishment and development of the woody flora.