Flora and ecological characteristics of rare plant communities on the southern slope of Shennongjia Mountain

Abstract

According to the investigation of sampling area of 6800 m² on the south slope of Shennongjia Mountain, there were 126 vascular plant species, belonging to 108 genera and 64 families, in the investigated rare plant communities, of which 9 rare plant species were recorded, accounting for 27.3% of the total rare plants. The communities were about 30 m in height and were divided into three layers as tree layer, shrub layer, and herb layer. The flora of the communities had obvious temperate character. Phanerophytes (accounted for 65.9%), Mesophyllous (62.7%), Papyraceous (84.1%), simple leaf (83.3%), un-entire leaf (69.8%) were dominant in life form, leaf size class, leaf texture, leaf form, and leaf margin respectively. According to important value of species, the communities were divided into three types asDavidia involucrata+Litsea pungens community,Cercidiphyllum japanicum +Padus wilsonii community, andPadus wilsonii+Acer mono community. The indexes of species diversity of tree layer had little difference among communities and evenness was high. The results indicated that the communities had complex structure and relative stability.