Volume 7, Issue 1, February 2015, Pages 45–53
Abstract
Objective
To
comprehensively map the distribution patterns of native medicinal
plants of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China; To find the
environmental determinants and to give suggestions for the conservation
planning of medicinal plants in Xinjiang region.
Methods
Firstly,
we compiled the distribution data of native medicinal plants at a
county level in Xinjiang region, including the source plants of Chinese
Materia Medica (CMM), Uygur Medicine (UM), and Kazak Medicine (KM);
Secondly, we divided the distribution data into grid with a resolution
of 0.1° × 0.1° and overlaid it on the topography and climate data in
Arcgis 10.0; Finally, we analyzed the correlations of medicinal plant
richness and environmental variables with ordinary least square (OLS)
regressions and partial regressions.
Results
UM
has more non-native species in Xinjiang region than KM. The species
richness of medicinal plants is high in Altay Mountains, western
Tianshan Mountains, and part of Kunlun Mountains. The richness of
medicinal plants is highly correlated with the vascular plant species
richness and climate, and further, the independent effects of vascular
plant species richness are higher than the independent effects of
climate. The whole plant, root & rhizome, and seed & fruit are
more frequently used than stem and leaf for CMM in Xinjiang region.
Conclusions
The
distribution patterns of medicinal plants are concordant with vascular
plant species, which could be carefully considered in the conservation
planning of this region. Taking full advantage of current nature
reserves is a low-costing approach to the conservation of medicinal
plants although they were not originally established for medicinal plant
protection. Nevertheless, it is urgent to further study the
distributions and protection status of medicinal plants in the nature
reserves of Xinjiang region.
Key words
- Chinese Materia Medica;
- distribution;
- diversity;
- Kazak Medicine;
- Traditional Chinese Medicine;
- Uygur Medicine;
- Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
- Available online: January 16, 2015
- Fund: China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2014M550028); Traditional Chinese Medicine Industry Research Special Project (201207002); Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Natural Science Foundation (2012211A109)
- Corresponding author: Zhang BG Tel:
+86-10-6289 9725 Fax: 86-10-6289 4462
Copyright © 2015 Tianjin Press of Chinese Herbal Medicines. Published by Elsevier (Singapore) Pte Ltd. All rights reserved.
