Studies on the Flora of the Seed Plants of Rubber Plantations in Yunnan Province

Purposes The aims of this study were to analyze the composition of species and flora of seed plants in rubber plantations in Yunnan Province.Methods The plants of 56 quadrates (10 m×10 m) were investigated in rubber plantations in Xishuangbanna, Puer, Honghe, Lincang and Dehong, and then the statistical analysis was conducted.Results There were 414 seed plant species, belonging to 292 genera and 90 families in the plantations. The 15 dominant families contained 224 species, which occupied 54.11% of the total species. The property of tropical zone was evidently presented in the flora of the plantations, and the R/T of family level, genera level and species level were 7.14, 10.74 and 15.38 respectively. Also, there were 46 genera and 211 species of tropical Asia. What's more, 32 families of cosmopolitan and 59 Chinese endemic species were also included. There were 5 common families among 9 dominant families of rubber plantations in Yunnan, Guangdong and Hainan Provinces, which showed a certain similarity existing in the families composition of three communities.Conclusions The characteristics of tropical zone are obviously presented in rubber plantations of Yunnan Province, which is slightly stronger than the characteristics of Guangdong rubber plantations and is sharply weaker than the characteristics of Hainan rubber plantations. The tropical Asia infinity and endemism also exist in the plantations of Yunnan Province, which are both the strongest in the three communities.