Studies On Flora And Plant Resources Of Laoshan, Nanjing

Based on several thorough investigations and surveys, this paper discusses and analyzes theflora of vascular plants, vegetation types and plant resources in Laoshan, Nanjing. The mainresults are as follows:1. There are798species of wild vascular plants in Laoshan, Nanjing, belong to461generain129families. Among them47species belong to28genera in20families are ferns,751speciesbelong to433genera in109families are seed plants. Most of them are perennial herbs andannual herbs. Ludwigia epilobioides, Angelica decursiva f. albiflora, Sedum aizoon var. latifoliusare new distributional taxa in Jiangsu Province.8species include Arabis flagellosa、Swertiadiluta and Emilia sonchifolia etc are new records in Nanjing.2. The floristic elements of Laoshan are complex. There are some archaic plants in this flora.The flora shows temperate characteristics and significant transition to subtropics:146genera ofwild seed plants are tropical elements and220are temperate elements, R/T=0.664. There are8Chinese endemic genera and endemism is not obvious. East Asia and Chinese endemicdistribution are predominating in species level. The flora belong to the Holarctic Region,Sino-Japanese Floristic Subregion, East China flora.3. The comparison of floras based on floristic spectrums shows that the flora of Laoshan areclosely related to Langyashan and Huangfushan. Baohuashan, Yixin and Yuntaishan take secondplace, Tiantangzhai and Xitianmushan are distantly related to Laoshan. Comparision of floras ofLangyashan, Laohan and Ninzhen mountain range shows that the species richness of Laoshan isthe lowest. Laoshan is the bridge of two banks which shows intermediacy characteristics in flora.Species connectivity rates are low in three nodes, which show obvious fragmentation.4. The vegetations in Laoshan are classified to natural vegetations and artificial vegetations.Where natural vegetations can be classified to5major types: secondary natural forest, secondaryshrub forest, bamboo, secondary shrub land and grassland. Reform strategies are proposed for thecurrent vegetation status. Also,63species of invasive plants are recorded. Prevention, control andmanagement measures are put forward.5. There are776species of resource plants in Laoshan area. Ornamental plants, edible plantsand medicinal plants are comparatively important types. There are10species of rare andendangered plants in this area include Zelkova schneideriana, Sinojackia xylocarpa andSemiarundinaria densiflora etc., most of them are not been properly protected at present.