The Study of Fritillaria Imperialis Site by Ellenberg Table

Crown imperial, (Fritillaria imperialis) has a limited distribution in some regions of the world. Manesht protected area in Ilam is one of the most important natural habitats of F. imperialis. This research presents a case study to understand the living environment of F. imperialis by Ellenberg table and field studies for site management and planning. In order to achieve better accuracy in site study, Ellenberg table was used. Ellenberg table values constitute a relative scale of optima per species with regard to soil acidity, moisture and nitrogen, ligth and temperature based on field studies. The study was performed based on the plant existing environment. Conditions such as elevation, geographic aspect, climatic factors (annual rainfall and temperature), soil acidity, nitrogen companion vegetation were identified. Feild and lab studies and overlaying the existing location of F. imperialis on digitized maps showed that this plant grows on elevations (1800 – 2000 meters), only northward (light: moderate), annual temperature (18 – 20˚C) , annual rainfall (600 – 750 mm/year), soil pH: 7/85 and N: 0.55% and companian vegetation were Quercus persica, Pistacia mutica, Daphne mucronata, Cirsium arvense, Euphorbia helioscopia, Lonicera nummulariifolia, Acer monspessulanum, Crataegus azarolus and Capsella bursa-pastoris. Comparison of the results with Ellenberg table showed that general results are close to the Ellenberg table.