Floristic composition and biological spectrum of the flora of Shishikoh valley, district Chitral, Pakistan

In the present study, a total of 329 vascular plant taxa, encompassing 215 genera and 71 families across three major plant groups-Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms and Angiosperms were recorded from the Shishikoh Valley in District Chitral, Pakistan. Among these, 165 species belonging to 19 families were identified as new additions to the known flora of the Shishikoh Valley, District Chitral, Pakistan. Nine endemic taxa were recorded for the first time from the study area. The dominant family was Asteraceae with 32 taxa (9.73 %), followed by Lamiaceae with 31 taxa (9.42 %) and Papilionaceae with 29 taxa (8.81 %). In terms of leaf persistence, deciduous plants were represented by 305 taxa (92.71 %), followed by perennials with 19 taxa (5.78 %) and aphyllous plants with three taxa (0.91 %). Mesophytes with 304 taxa (92.4 %) were the most dominant plants, followed by xerophytes with 22 taxa (6.69 %) and hydrophytes with three taxa (0.91 %). The recorded flora consists of 46.2 % annual herbaceous plants and 28.88 % perennials. Therophytes and hemicryptophytes were the most frequent life forms in the area. The discovery of new plant species in the area underscores the importance of continued botanical surveys and detailed documentation, which would be beneficial in adding many new species to the flora of District Chitral, Pakistan.