Flora of Jahanbin Mountain Area: A Contribution to Flora of the Central Zagros Region of Iran

Abstract

Flora of Jahanbin mountain area in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, located between Shahrekord and Hafshejan cities, with 12’187 hectares and 2’150 to 3’300 m elevation above sea level, is investigated. Vegetation of this area comprises of 273 species, 189 genera and 42 families. Asteraceae (37 species, 13.5%), Poaceae (31 species, 11.3%) and Fabaceae (25 species, 9.1%) were the most important families regarding the number of species. The largest genera were Astragalus (9 species), Euphorbia (8 species), Silene, Hordeum, Ranunculus, Salvia (5 species each) and Galium, Centaurea, Scorzonera, Bunium (4 species each). Dominant life forms in this area were Hemicryptophytes and Therophytes. 149 species (55%) were native to Irano-Turanian region, 77 species (28%) pluri-regional, and 41 species (15%) shared elements between IT and neighboring regions (Euro-Siberian, Mediterranean, or Saharo-Sindian). This study reports also results of the first multivariate analysis of presence/absence data of floristic data in Iran, for a 14 flora x 1541 species matrix. Three main clusters of local floras emerged in resultant plots, separating the floras in western and eastern hillsides of Zagros, and based also on the climatic differences in northern and southern parts of the province in the eastern hillside. Our study demonstrated the applications of multivariate technics for comparative floristic analyses.