Plant Biodiversity of Wetland Habitats in Dry Steppes of Central Alborz Mts., N. Iran

The dry southern slopes of Alborz Mountains include ʹgreen islandsʹ of wetland. These wetland habitats distribute from 1486 to 3730 m a.s.l. A checklist of all plants collected in the current study (45 wetland sites) and other previous studies (8 wetland sites) is presented. There are 323 vascular plant taxa, in 159 genera and 51 families. The largest families are Asteraceae (13%), Poaceae (12.1%), and Cyperaceae (8.4%). Genera represented by the greatest number of species are Veronica, Carex, Taraxacum and Cirsium. Moreover, 23 bryophytes were also determined in the wetland sites. From the chorological point of view, the largest proportion of the flora belongs to the pluriregional elements (ca. 30%). Almost seven percent of plants are endemic or subendemics. Classification based on life form indicates that the hemicryptophytes comprise the largest proportion of the plants in the study area. The main habitats in the area include wet meadows, open water areas, streams or rivulets. Frequencies calculations indicated that 226 collected plant taxa (ca. 70%) occur in lower than 10% of wetland sites. Mentha longifolia, Juncus inflexus, Carex orbicularis and Juncus articulatus have the highest frequency percentage across the sites respectively