Flora, Life form and Chorology of Plants in the Important Wetlands of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province

Wetlands are one of the most important and vital ecosystems which support a wide array of unique plants adapted to wet conditions. Therefore, identification of vegetation and phytogeographical surveys in these regions is necessary. The aim of this research was plant identification, introduction to the flora, determination of life forms and geographical distribution in wetlands of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province. Plants were collected from different parts of the four main wetlands (Choghakhor, Gandoman, Souleghan and Aliabad) during two years and different growing seasons. The life form of plants and phytogeography classification were studied. The results showed that there were 135 plant species belonging to 36 families and 94 genera. The families like Poaceae, Cyperaceae and Asteraceae with 24, 17 and 15 species embraced higher species respectively. These families contained 41.5 percent of the total species. According to Raunkiaer’s life form, species were: 53.3% cryptophytes (72 species), 23.7% hemicryptophytes (32 species) and 23% therophytes (31 species). The chorology of species showed that 32.6 percent of species belonging to Polyregional, 21.5 percent Iran-Turanian, 18.5 percent belonged to Irano-Turanian, Europa-Siberian and Mediterranean.