A Study of Flora, Life Forms and Chorotypes of Plants in the Sisab Protected Area, North Khorasan Province (Iran)

Identity and introduction of plants collection is one of the important works that is used to optimize utilization from natural resource of a region. The findings of these efforts provide basic and fundamental information that is used in different fields of study, biology, agriculture, pharmacy and industry. In this survey the flora of protected region of Sisab has been studied. Sisab region is situated in 42km from Bojnord. Its lowest and the highest altitudes are 1300 and 1570 meters respectively. The method of plant collection in this region was classical method of regional floristic studies. Collected plants were recognized and determined as families, genera and species. Flora of this region includes 106 plant species that belong to 88 genera and 30 families, the important families are Poaceae, Astraceae, Labiatae, with 23.2%, 13.8% and 6.5% respectively. Studying of plants life forms by Raunkiaar method showed that hemycryptophytes with 44 percent (47 species) of species are the most frequent life forms. High percentage of hemycryptophytes indicates that the area has cold mountain climate. Therophytes with 37 and chamephytes with 10 percent of species are less important. Investigation on geographical distributaries of plants species showed that 69 percent (74 species) of the species belong to Irano- Touranian zone. Other species can be observed in other zones too.