A discussion on biogeographical lines of the tropical-subtropical Yunnan

Abstract

Based on comparative studies on four regional floras from northwest, west, south and southeast of Yunnan respectively, the formerly suggested two biogeographical lines, i. e. the “Tanaka Line” and the “Ecogeographical Diagonal Line”, both going from northwest to southeast of Yunnan, and their significance are discussed. In family and generic levels, similarity coefficients among the four compared floras are more than 93% and 60% separately, which indicate the close floristic affinities among them. The highest similarity coefficient, i. e. 98.7% in family level and 78.6% in generic level separately, is found between the regional flora of northwest Yunnan and the flora of southeast Yunnan although these two regions are the most distant away each other among the compared regional floras. The flora of northwest Yunnan is also the most similar to the flora of southeast Yunnan in floristic composition. These support the idea of “Ecogeographical Diagonal Line”. In specific level, the relatively high similarity coefficient is between the regional flora of west Yunnan and the one of south Yunnan. The floristic affinities among these regional floras and some distribution patterns could be explained by the geological history and tectonic theory of Yunnan.