| Information on the bio-ecological traits of plant endemism in a particular flora is of great importance in understanding the underlying causes of species diversification, patterns of species richness and their geographical distribution. Previous studies have shown that a particular plant group or local flora differs partly from others in the species composition, occurrence of sexual system and life form and its correlations, but whether a general pattern exists is unclear. The western region of Hubei province of China is rich in seed plants and its endemic subset but there is relatively little information on its bio-ecological traits of this endemic flora. Based on update references and field investigations, we carried out a statistic analysis on the composition, sexual system and life form of this endemic flora. The results showed that there are 1,824 taxa endemic to China, and the proportions of endemic taxa among genera were greatly skewed. Of them,1006 taxa are woody species,818 taxa are herbaceous species,236 taxa are dioecious plants,1,311 taxa are hermaphroditie plants, and 277 are monoecious plants. All pairs among endemism, sexual system and life form are significantly correlated. Additionally, dioecious endemics are correlated with woody life form, hermaphrodite endemics are correlated with herbaceous life form. Additionally, the occurrence of unisexual dioecious endemics of the studied area is relatively high in comparison with that of the tropical islands. The results might provide data for further explanation of the origin of endemic flora of the studied area and for its conservation priority setting. |
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