Historically, forest landscapes have been modified by human activities, causing its destruction and fragmentation to exploit its resources. However, forests play a vital role in protecting the environment, especially on slops, hilltops, lakes, springs and river banks. This study aimed to understand the diversity and structure of vegetation on a slope of riparian forest in Bocaina de Minas, MG and identify key environmental variables that influence the spatial distribution of individual trees. An inventory of the tree community was conducted, in which ten of 10m×40m plots were allocated and systematically distributed throughout the study area. All individuals existing shrubs and trees within the plots with 1.30m diameter ≥ 5.0cm of soil were sampled in order to generate information on the horizontal structure, richness and diversity of the community. Variables related to the substrata were obtained for each plot from the topography and laboratory analysis of soil samples (pH, levels of P, K, Ca, Mg and Al, base saturation (V), organic matter and levels of sand, silt and clay). Other variables such as distance from the river and successional stage of the plots, were also evaluated. In order to correlate environmental variables with the abundance distribution of the species, a canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and Spearman correlation were used. The Shannon diversity index (H') and evenness index (J') obtained were 3.53 and 0.76, respectively. The emerging patterns of environmental variables and the abundance of species indicate that these were distributed throughout the fragment, mainly due to the P content in soil and successional stage of the plots. In addition, several species have produced significant correlations between their abundance in the plots and the variables related to successional stage, variations in soil, and distance from the banks of water courses.