The Preliminary Study On The Liverworts Of Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve, Hubei Province

Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve is located among city of Lichuan, Enshi and Xianfeng in the southwestern Hubei Province. The reserve consists of two parts. One part is Mt. Xingdoushan Nature Reserve with its geographical position from 108°57 ' E to 109°27 ' E in longitude and 29°57 ' N to 30°10 ' N in latitude. The other is Xiaohe valley with its geographical position from 108°31 ' E to 108°48 ' E in longitude and 30°04 ' N to 30°14 ' N in latitude. Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve is located in the transitional climatic belt between middle subtropical zone and north subtropical zone, with distinct four seasons, cold winter and hot summer.In July 2004 and April 2005 separately, the author collected more than 200 packages of liverworts in Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve. From these specimens, 16 families, 20 genera and 42 species (including 1 subspecies and 1 varieties) are identified. Among them there are 2 preponderant families including 3 genera and 14 species in the Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve. The families consisting are Porellaceae and Frullaniaceae. And there are 1 genus and 17 species which are newly recorded in Hubei province. Also 1 East Asiatic endemic genus distributes in Xingdoushan Nature Reserve.The liverworts flora in Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve of Hubei Province falls into 9 geographical elements. East Asian element makes up the majority, approximating to 36.11% of the entirely known liverwortsflora in Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve of Hubei Province. And the next comes North Temperate element, accounting for 25.00%. All temperate elements, not including Endemic to China and Cosmopolitans, add up to 29 species, which take 80.56% of all the entirely known liverworts flora in Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve of Hubei Province. However there are only 6 species belonging to subtropical and tropical elements. To all appearance, the liverworts flora of Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve of Hubei Province is provided with temperate characters.The comparisons of the liverworts flora of the Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve and those of other mountains and regions were done. The results show that the relation between the liverworts flora of Xingdoushan National Nature Reserve and that of Shennongjia National Nature Reserve is the most closest for their genera similarity...