A wild herb flora study in the Nishan－Yishan Region, Shandong Province

The Nishan－Yishan region in Shandong Province has a complex natural geographical environment and abundant wild herbaceous plant resources but lacks investigation and research on the wild herbaceous plant flora. To fill the research gap and grasp the current status of local herbal resources, this study conducted a field investigation on the wild herbaceous plant flora in the Nishan－Yishan region and carried out systematic research on its geographical components and quantitative traits. The results show that the flora of this region is rich in composition with high species diversity. A total of 424 species of wild herbaceous plants, belonging to 271 genera and 70 families, were investigated, showing obvious single species and few species both in the family and genus levels. According to the geographical distribution standards of plants, the flora of this region can be divided into 10 distribution zone types and forms at the family level and 29 at the genus level, and has obvious tropical origin and typical transitional properties to the temperate zone. The three characteristic indicators of the flora have prominent functions and strong representatives, with six (15) flora dominant families (genera), 15 (40) flora representative families (genera), and 11 (24) dominant families (genera) of the community (vegetation). Some major families in the flora have characteristics such as large quantity, large volume, and wide distribution at the same time, and their genera are relatively scattered. This reflects the independent indicator characteristics and ecological significance among the flora dominant groups, representative groups, and community dominant groups.