Study of floristics, life form and chorology of plants in Shimbar protected area (Khuzestan province)

The Shimbar or Shirin Bahar region with an area of 53000 h is located in 45 km north east of Masjed Soleyman city, Andica town and north of Shahid Abaspour dam. The area belongs to the Zagrosian district of Irano-Turanian region. In three seasons, winter, spring and summer of 2012 to 2013, herbarium specimens of the area were collected and named by the Floras of Iran and neighboring countries. In this research, 189 species belonged to 149 genera and 51 families were determined. Most of the species belonged to Asteraceae with 23, Poaceae with 19, Lamiaceae and Papilionaceae with 18, Rosaceae with 10, Apiaceae with 9 and, Brassicaceae followed by the Caryophyllaceae each with 8 species. The life forms of the species in Shimbar included 13% phanerophytes, 6% chamephytes, 25% hemicryptophytes, 15% cryptophytes and 41% therophytes. The highest precent of the species belonged to the Irano-Turanian region.