A floristic checklist of Kazinag National Park, Kashmir Himalaya

Protected areas play an important role in the conservation of biodiversity and provide life supporting ecosystem services to sustain the human well-being and their livelihood. In the present study, we aimed to provide a preliminary floristic checklist of Kazinag National Park, located in the Kashmir Himalaya. The checklist includes 186 plant taxa (182 species, 2 subspecies and 2 varieties) belonging to 147 genera in 55 families. The angiosperms were represented by 181 species (97.3%) belonging to 142 genera in 53 families, while gymnosperms are represented by 5 species (2.7%) belonging to 5 genera in 2 families. Asteraceae was the dominant family with 24 species, followed by Ranunculaceae and Rosaceae with 14 and 13 species respectively. Astragalus, Erigeron and Impatiens were the dominant genera with 3 species each. The herbs were dominant (147 species, 79%), followed by shrubs (19, 10.2%) and trees (14, 7.5%). Lifespan wise, perennials were dominant (164 species, 88.2%), followed by annuals (21, 11.3%) and biennials (1, 0.5%). The hemicryptophytes were dominant (110 taxa, 59.1%), followed by phanerophytes (36, 19.4%) and therophytes (22, 11.8%). This is the first floristic checklist with assessment of their life-history traits from this Himalayan protected area, and the information can be used in conservation strategies and management decisions about this national park and other protected areas in the region.