Nannorrhops ritchieana (Griff.) Aitch and its associated flora in the Hindukush range of Northwest Pakistan: An economic palm

Abdullah Abdullah and Shakil Ahmad Zeb, Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan, Shujaul Mulk Khan, Khadija Rehman and Zahoor Ul Haq, Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan, Shujaul Mulk Khan, Pakistan Academy of Science, Member Pakistan Academy of Science, Islamabad, Pakistan

Background/Question/Methods
Nannorrhops ritchiana (Griff.) Aitch (Mazri Palm) is a species of family Palmae or Arecaceae, distributed in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Oman and Arabia. It is a versatile and gregarious shrubby palm that can survive in severe cold, blazing heat, intense winds, water scarce and can grow in extreme sorts of environments. The current study was aimed to study various associations formed by Nannorrhops ritchieana with associated flora under various edaphic and climatic factors in the Hindukush range of Northwest Pakistan. Total of 72 plots of 5x5 meter size were taken for data collection. Ecological data was analyzed with multivariate statistical techniques e.g Cluster Analysis (CA) and Two-way Cluster Analysis (TWCA) Indicator Species Analysis (ISA), Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) and Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA), using software’s PCORD version 5 and CANOCO version 4.5.
Results/Conclusions
A total of 70 associated plant species belongs to 27 families were collected. Among these herbs were 89% and shrubs were 11%. Poaceae with 15 species, Asteraceae and Lamiaceae with 8 species each were the dominant families. Through CA and TWCA all associated plants were grouped into four associations. These were (1) Aerva javanica- Spergularia diandra -Dodoneae viscosa (2) Erodium cicotarium-Tribulus terrestris-Gymnosporea royleana (3) Acrachane racemosa -Cyperus rotundus-Gymnosporea royleana (4) Cymbopogon martini-Salvia moorcraftiana-Periploca aphyla associations. It is elucidated that the Magnesium (Mg), Sodium (Na) and Grazing pressure (Gp) play important role in the determination of vegetation structure, associations formation and its specific indicators. This study could further be used in the evaluation and assessment of single plant species in realtion to associated indigenous flora.