THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND FLORISTIC FEATURES OF THE LEGUME IN MT. SHENNONGJIA

Mt. Shennongiia, situated in the western part of Hubei Province, 31°42'N. 110°35'E, is generally known as "The highest mountain in Central China". Its summit is about 3105 m above sea level with a relative height from 1000 to 2000m.The legume flora in Mt. Shennongjia so far known comprises 31 genera and 56 species(except cultispecies). in which 10 are tree, 19 are fruticose, 22 are herb and 5 are liana. Among them 2 species distribute in temperate evergreen needle-leaf forest zone; 28 species in warm temperate deciduous broad-leaf forest zone: 52 species in subtropical deciduous broad-leaf and evergreen broad-leaf mixed forest zone. Astragalus sinica can grow well in three zones; 24 species can grow across two zones.In the floristic composition, 16 species belong to Sine-Japan component, 21 species are endemic species of China, 5 species belong to temperate Asia component, 4 species belong to Europe-Asia component, 3 species belong to north temperate zone component, 3 species belong to tropical Asia component.Tropical Asia and tropical Africa, east Asia-north America, west Asiaeast Asia component and Sine-Himalayan component comprise 1 species respectively. The floristic features of the Legume flora of Mto Shennongjia are rich in species, comparatively complex in component, rather prolific in endemic species, have obvious transitive character.