%A Wanyi Zhao, Zhongcheng Liu, Huagu Ye, Lei Wang, Gongxi Chen, Keming Liu, Xuanhuai Zhan, Wenbo Liao %T Floristic characteristics and north-south differentiation of seed plants in the Luoxiao Mountains %0 Journal Article %D 2020 %J Biodiv Sci %R 10.17520/biods.2019262 %P 842-853 %V 28 %N 7 %U {https://www.biodiversity-science.net/CN/abstract/article_60902.shtml} %8 2020-07-20 %X

This paper studied the flora of seed plants in the Luoxiao Mountains and revealed the transitional characteristics of five moderate mountains flora from north to south. The results indicated that 4,314 wild seed plants belonging to 1,107 genera and 179 families are distributed in the Luoxiao Mountains. (1) The Luoxiao Mountains flora consists of 25 families and 465 genera which distribute only one species, 61 oligotypic families and 432 oligotypic genera, presenting the relict of flora and intimate exchange between local floristic components and typical tropical and temperate components. (2) The families geographical areal-types were classified into 10 types, included 83 tropical families and 40 temperate families, accounting for 67.48% and 32.52%, respectively of the non-widespread families. The genus areal-types were classified into 15 types, including 484 tropical genera and 534 temperate genera accounting for 52.46% and 47.54%, respectively of the non-widespread genera. The distribution patterns of genera are abundant with pantropic areal-type, tropical areal-type, North temperate areal-type, and East Asia areal-type, which reflect that the flora of the Luoxiao Mountains, the paleo-tropical flora and temperate tertiary flora are strongly interrelated. (3) The floristic compositions amongst five mountains in the Luoxiao Mountains have marked spatial heterogeneity from north to south, which the R/T value, i.e ratio of tropical genera to temperate genera, increases gradually. The Mufu Mountains experienced stronger temperate elements, which are related to Central China flora, while the Wanyang Mountains and the Zhuguang Mountains contain stronger tropical elements. Climate fluctuations may be the main reason for the formation of the modern floristic distribution pattern in the region.