Flora of Gwangju and the Jeollanam-do region

This study outlines the flora of Gwangju and Jeonnam province's 23 administrative districts based on KB, KH, and CNU herbarium specimens. The study also inferred and classified correlations for each region's environmental factors and characteristics of flora thereof. In this case, 182,591 specimens collected from Gwangju and Jeonnam province's 23 administrative districts were classified as 2,289 taxa with 165 families, 770 genera, 1,998 species, 50 subspecies, 197 varieties, 27 forma, and 17 hybrids. Sinan province had the most diversity with 1,476 taxa. Mokpo city had the lowest, claiming 316 taxa for this locale. An analysis of correlations with regard to plant distributions and environmental factors revealed that high altitudes yield more northern plants. Among the administrative districts, the northern share was highest in Gurye province (114 taxa), which boasts an overall high altitude and a large percentage of forested area. Southern plants showed a high correlation with frost days (correlation coefficient r = 0.732, <i>p</i> < 0.001). With 46.3 frost days, Sinan province had the largest southern species (248 taxa). The flora of Gwangju and Jeonnam province’s 23 administrative districts were categorized as the southwest coastal type, the northeast high mountain type, the montane type, and the plain-village hill type based on species diversity and distribution characteristics.