Structure Characteristics of a Typical Community of the Rare and Endangered Plants of Houhe Nature Reserve in the Southwest Hubei

The structure characteristics of a typical community of rare and endangered plants of Houhe Nature Reserve in the Southwest Hubei were studied . The results showed that there were 15 species of rare and endangered plants in 1400 m² samples. The dominant species of the community were Tetracentron sinense and Dipteronia sinensis . The spatial pattern of the main populations were the clump type except that the population of Tapiscia sinensis was the random type. The tree class structure of Tetracentron sinense, Tapiscia sinensis and Davidia involucrata populations were senescent type, Dipteronia sinensis, Aesculus wilsonii and Davidia involucrata var. vilmorniana populations were vigorous type structure and Fagus longipetiolata population was adult type structure. The vertical structure of the community was composed by tree layer, shrub layer and herb layer. The structure of the whole community was stable. The rare and endangered plants of the community predominated both in the tree layer and others layers. The community might success to the community which dominant species were not rare and endangered plants if the seedlings of the rare and endangered plants in the community were excessively collected.