Flora, life form and chorology of plants of the Helali protected area in Khorasan-e Razavi province

Helali protected area” has been officially announced as a no-hunting zone since 1997 and then، became a protected area in 2006. This area with ca. 63495 hectares، is located in the west of Gonabad and southeast of Bajestan، Khorasan-e Razavi province. The area includes mountains، plains and foothills and has a dry and desert climate with warm summers and cold winters based on De Martonne’s aridity index. In investigation of the flora، 318 vascular plant species belonging to 205 genera and 53 families were identified. The most dominant families were Asteraceae، Poaceae، and Brassicaceae with 53، 30، and 26 plant species، respectively. Chorological classification of the flora showed that the majority of the species (56. 3%) belonged to the Irano-Turanian region. Pluri-regional، cosmopolitan and sub-cosmopolitan elements made up 14. 1% of the flora which reflected a disturbance history in the area. Therophytes (47. 5%) and hemicryptophytes (26. 1%) were the most important life forms according to Raunkiaer classification.