Abstract
The flora of Laos is composed of 5,005 species in 1,373 genera and 188 families of seed plants. Floristic and geographical attributes of the flora were analyzed. Tropical floristic elements at the family and generic levels contributed a majority (62.23% of the families and 82.30% of the genera) of the flora, of which the dominant geographical elements were pantropical distribution (42.02% of families) and tropical Asian distribution (30.08% of genera). This revealed that the flora of Lao PDR is tropical in nature and has a conspicuously tropical Asian affinity. Compared with the neighbouring countries of the Indochina peninsula, the flora of Laos has similar floristic composition and geographical elements. The floras of these Indochinese countries have similarities of more than 77.84% at the generic level, which suggests that they compose an affiliated biogeographical region. However, the flora of Laos showed the highest similarity to the flora of Vietnam (92.13%), followed by Myanmar (86.01%) at the generic level, but has less East Asian and North Temperate elements than Vietnam, and less North Temperate elements than Myanmar. These differences among the compared countries could be explained by the extrusion of the Indochinese block with the uplift of the Himalayas.
Highlights
Lao PDR (Lao People’s Democratic Republic), one of the world’s poorest countries, is located in the center of mainland Southeast Asia and covers 236,800 square kilometers (Fig 1)
This paper aims to (i) analyze the floristic patterns and geographical elements of Laos; (ii) examine its floristic affinity to neighbouring countries; and (iii) discuss biogeography of the Indochina peninsula
This reveals that the flora of Lao PDR is tropical in nature and has a conspicuously tropical Asian affinity
Summary
Lao PDR (Lao People’s Democratic Republic), one of the world’s poorest countries, is located in the center of mainland Southeast Asia and covers 236,800 square kilometers (Fig 1). It is surrounded by Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the People’s Republic of China. The topography of Laos is largely mountainous, with the Annamite Range in the northeast and east and the Luang Prabang Range in the northwest (Fig 2). It has elevations from 500 m in river valleys up to 2,819 m at the highest summit of Phou Bia mountain. He distinguished the forest types of Laos as moist semi-deciduous forests with
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