Introducing the Flora, Life Forms, and Geographical Dispersion of Medicinal Plant Species in Galoochar Juniper Forest Reservoir(Kerman province)

The flora and medicinal plants of Galoochar Juniper Forest Reservoir in Kerman province were identified and introduced in this study. This reservoir is located in southeast of Kerman province in Rabor town, between 29º 18′ 42″to 29º 17′ 24″ northern latitudes and 56º 07′ 19″ to 56º 04′ 22″ eastern longitudes, with an area around 382 hectares. The altitude of the area ranges from 2500 to 3200 m from the sea level.Theaverage altitude in this region is 2850 m and the average annual precipitation is 400 mm. After floristic-physiognomic analyses,seven plant types were identified in the study area. About 360 plant samples were collected during 2010-2011 which belonged to 254 species, 187 genera, and 49 families. One hundred medicinal plant species were identified in the sample which belonged to 72 genera and 34 families. The result of the geographical dispersion analysis of the medicinal plants of the region indicated that the most frequent species were Irano-Turanian (63%) and Irano-Turanian and Saharao-Sidian (10%). Furthermore,the results obtained from life form analysis of the plants in this region revealed that the most frequent species belonged to the Therophytes (30%) and the Hemicryptophytes (30%) and the least frequent species were the Phanerophytes (12%).