Evaluation of under-story Flora, Biological Form and Geographical Distribution of Juniper Habitat in Chahar Bagh Region of Golestan Province

Iran has high vegetation diversity due to different climates and ecological conditions. Golestan province is one of the most diverse vegetation provinces in the country. Among the plant species of this province, the Juniper genus, with the presence of 6 native species, is one of the few coniferous species which is an important part of the under story vegetation flora of the area. Chahar Bagh Juniper Reserve with an area of 600 hectares, located in the Southern of Gorgan, with altitude range of 2150 to 3150 meters above sea level, was selected as a study area. In order to identify plant species and introducing the floristic composition, biological form and geographical distribution of plants in the area, Plant specimens were collected and identified during the vegetative seasons of 2017 and 2018. The results show that in total, the under story flora of Char-Bagh Juniper Reserve has 111 taxa including 31 families and 84 genera. The largest genus, belonged to the Poaceae (12 species), Lamiaceae (11 species), Brassicaceae (9 species), Asteraceae (8 species), Apiaceae (7 species) and Alliaceae (7 species), respectively. According to Rankiairechr('39')s plant biological form, 44% of plants belong to the hemicryptophytes, 22% in trophytes and 12% in comfit. An examination of the geographical range of vegetation in the area reveals that 61.3% of identified plants belong to Iran-Turanian vegetative zone and 7.2% of the species have European-Siberian origin and at the same time, 2.7% of the species share the same area. In addition, 9.9% of the species are common between the Iran-Turanian and Mediterranean vegetative regions and the remaining 18.9% are related to other vegetative areas or are shared between several vegetation areas. The conservation status of the plant species in the area showed that none of them were endangered. One species is in the group of less threatened (relatively vulnerable) plants and one species is in a group with insufficient information on their condition.