Study on Moss Flora of Anhui Province,China

Anhui Province,located in the middle lower reaches of the Yangtze River,covers an area of 139 600 km2.The Yangtze river and the Huaihe river are the most important water courses traversing the province.Based on the literature available and identification of over 2000 collections of bryophytes made by the authors from the province in 2006 and 2007,we found that there are 545 species(including 8 subspecies and 32 varieties) belonging to 164 genera and 46 families.Among them,95 species,3 varieties and 1 subspecies are new to Anhui Province.An analysis of geographical and floristic elements of Anhui Province mosses indicates that 143 species(28.6% of the total) belong to the East Asian Elements,115 species(23.0% of the total) the North temperate Elements,89(17.8% of the total) the Tropical Asian Elements,53 species(10.60% of the total) the Temperate Asian Elements and 52(10.4% of the total) Chinese Endemic Elements.East Asian Elements are the most important ones.To all appearances,the mossflora of Anhui Province is provided with obvious temperate characters,and there are characteristics of subtropical and temperate zone.