| Pingbaying National Forest Park is located in the southwest of Xianfeng County,Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture,southwest of Hubei Province,at the intersection of Hubei,Hunan,Chongqing provinces(cities).It lies in the north-central area of Wulingshan Region and is an important part of the distribution center of the endemic genera of Chinese seed plants in East Sichuan-West Hubei Regions with a unique and important geographical location.The Checklist of Seed Plants in Pingbaying National Forest Park was compiled from field surveys of plant resources and literature collection within this region.In this study,at family,genus and species levels,we performed the analyses of geographical components,endemism,rare and endangered plants based on the wild seed plants distributed in this area.The flora affiliation was concluded by the comparison of R/T values,systematic cluster analysis and similarity coefficient comparison of common components.The main results are as follows:(1)Rich species diversity and complex floristic geographical composition: there are140 families,568 genera and 1086 species of wild seed plants(including infraspecies taxa):4 families,4 genera and 5 species of gymnosperms,136 families,564 genera and 1081 species of angiosperms.There are 443 species of woody plants and 643 species of herbs.140 families can be divided into 11 distribution types and 7 sub-distribution types,568 genera can be divided into 14 distribution types and 18 sub-distribution types,and 1086 species can be divided into 15 species distribution types and 6 sub-distribution types.(2)The temperate nature of the flora is prominent: through comparative analysis of the floral components at family,genus and species levels showed that the temperate component of the flora in this region is significantly dominant,and portrays temperate vegetation nature of the northern subtropical mountains.(3)Ancient floristic components and rich relict plants: most of the gymnosperms in this region are ancient species of Mesozoic origin,and the original taxa of angiosperms such as Lauraceae(7 genera and 25 species),Ranunculaceae(10 genera and 35 species),Lardizabalaceae(5 genera and 9 species)and Hamamelidaceae(4 genera and 6 species)are abundant.Also,monotypic genera are rich in this region,with more Tertiary relict plant components,such as Davidia involucrata,Emmenopterys henryi,Tetracentron sinense and Euptelea pleiosperma,which are widely distributed.(4)Rich endemic taxa: one endemic family,22 endemic genera and 409 endemic species in China,and 10 endemic species in Wulingshan Region.(5)Rich resources of rare and endangered plants and ancient trees: There are 69 rare,endangered and protected wild plants in this region.Among them,38 species are listed in the national key protection plant list,20 species are included in the IUCN,61 species are included in the Red List of Chinese species,and 33 species are included in the Appendix II of CITES list.Also,ancient trees such as Castanea mollissima,Fagus engleriana and Euptelea pleiosperma,which are hundreds of years old,are abundant in this region.(6)Rich new plant taxa and provincial new records: a new variety of Impatiens and a suspected new species of Veronicastrum were collect and described from this region.Also,three genera of seed plants were newly recorded in Hubei Province(one in Wulingshan Region).In addition,12 new species records(six in Wulingshan Region)were made.(7)Important plant migration station: comparative analysis with circumjacent floras indicated that this floras highly resembled the neighboring floras in Wulingshan Region and closely related with the circumjacent floras,which is an important transfer station in the Southwest-Central-East China plant migration route. |
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