FLORISTIC COMPOSITION, LIFE-FORMS AND CHOROLOGY OF AL-MADLOOM MOUNTAIN, ADHALE DISTRICT, SOUTHERN YEMEN

Abstract

The floristic composition, life form, and chorology were conducted in Al-Madloom mountain, Adhale, South of Yemen. The flora consisted of 159 plant species belonging to 111 genera and 46 families. Apocynaceae (12 genera; 19 species), Euphorbiaceae (eight genera; 14 species), and Acanthaceae (eight genera; 8 species) were the most dominant families in terms of species richness. The plants were classified into different life forms and Chorotypes after standard methods. Among the life forms, Chamaephytes 60 species (37.73%) were the dominant followed by Therophytes 47 species (29.55%), Phanerophytes 29 species (18.23%), Geophytes 15 species (9.43%), Hemicryptophytes six species (3.77%), while two species were Parasites (1.25%). From the Chorological point of view, the study revealed that the highest number of species  56 (35.22%) was recorded in the Su-Za Chorotype, followed by Cosmopolitan 20 species (12.57%), Endemic 18 species (11.32%) and ZU-ZA+SA-SI 16 species (10.06%). The Sudano-Zambenzian constitute 56 species, which means the flora of the study area belongs to the Sudanian region. The domination of Chamaephytes and Therophytes indicates that the investigated area is under deep biotic stress. Endemism in the study area is relatively significant, represented by 11.32% of the total flora collected from the study area, and these taxa were listed to be globally endangered.