A Study on the Flora in Xinjiang Urumqi River Basin

Urumqi river,which originates in No.1 glacier on the north slope of Tianger Peak,collects dozens of mountain springs and brooks at the middle and alpine belts,runs from the south to the northeast through the city of Urumqi and finally empties into Dongdao lake located at the south edge of the Gorbantongute Desert with the total length of 220km.The author did years of on-the-spot investigations and literature reviewing concerning the river.It has been preliminary found out that in Urumqi River Basin there are 92 families,500 genera and 1424 species of wild vascular plants(including subspecies and varieties),among which there are 10 families,15 genera and 28 species of fern,3 families,3 genera and 12 species of gymnosperm,79 families,482 genera and 1384 species of angiosperm(64 families,402 genera and 1089 species of dicotyledon,15 families,80 genera and 295 species of monocotyledon).The analysis on the distribution type of the flora in the river basin shows that the North Temperate and Mediterranean,West Asian and Central Asian distribution dominated the distribution rate of the seed plant genera here,with totally 258 genera,making up 60.01% the total plant genera in the river basin.The second dominated distributions are the Old World Temperate distribution,Central Asian and its variables distribution,with totally 116 genera,making up 26.97% of the total plant genera.The third dominated distributions are the Temperate Asian distribution with 20 genera,making up 4.65% and of the total seed plant genera.There are 7 genera of Eastern Asian distribution,making up 1.63% of the total seed plant genera in the river basin.Eastern Asian North American distributions only share 2 genera,making up 0.47% of the total seed plant genera.The above analysis indicates the most interflows between the flora in this area with those in the Old World Temperate and Mediterranean,W.Asia C.Asia,some interflows with Tropical flora and Temperate Asian and Eastern Asian flora,and the least interflows with Eastern Asian and North American and the Old World Tropical flora.