Nova Biologica Reperta

Comparison of angiosperm flora of Afghanistan and Iran in accordance with APG IV system

Authors

Farrokh Ghahremaninejad
Najibe Ataei 1
Atiye Nejad Falatoury 2

1 Philipps-Universität Marburg

2 , Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO)

https://doi.org/10.21859/acadpub.nbr.4.1.74
Abstract
Considering fundamental changes in the classification of angiosperms, based on phylogenetic studies, makes revising and updating Floras inevitable. Hence, in this paper, changes in the flora of Afghanistan have been listed and compared with the flora of Iran. As the latest studies indicate, according to APG IV system, the flora of Afghanistan comp-rises 40 orders, 130 families, about 1030 genera and 5065 species of angiosperms. In comparison the flora of Iran comprises 42 orders, 139 families, nearly 1252 genera and 8090 species of angiosperms. Moreover, the two countries share 39 orders, 124 families, 844 genera and about 1800 species. In Afghanistan the largest number of families belongs to Lamiales and in Iran to Caryophyllales. Asteraceae contains the largest number of genera in both countries. As far as the number of species in concerned, the largest angiosperms family in Afghanistan is Asteraceae, but in Iran it is Fabaceae. The most diverse ge-nera of both countries are Astragalus and Cousinia respectively. Gymnosperms have two orders, four families, seven genera and 22 species in Afghanistan, while in Iran they have two orders, three families, five genera and 17 species. By adding 58 species of pteridophytes and 311 species of bryophytes to Afghanistan’s flora and 60 species of pteridophytes and 534 spec-ies of bryophytes to Iran’s flora, in total, Embryophyta have approximately 5460 species in Afghanistan and 8700 species in Iran.

Keywords

Asia
classification
diversity
plants
Taxonomy
Akhani, H. and Ghorbani, A. 2003. Mandragora turcomanica (Solanaceae) in Iran: a new distribution record for an endangered species. – Syst. Biodivers. 1: 177-180.
Akhani, H., Edwards, G. and Roalson, E.H. 2007. Diversification of the old world Salsoleae s.l. (Chen-opodiaceae): molecular phylogenetic analysis of nucl-ear and chloroplast data sets and a revised classifi-cation. – Int. J. Plant Sci. 168: 931-956.
APG. 1998. An ordinal classification for the families of fl-owering plants. – Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 85: 531-553.
APG II. 2003. An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flow-ering plants: APG II. – Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 141: 399-436.
APG III. 2009. An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flow-ering plants: APG III. – Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 161: 105-121.
APG IV. 2016. An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flow-ering plants: APG IV. – Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 181: 1-20.
Assadi, M. et al. (eds.). 1989-2016. Flora of Iran, 1-85. – RIFR, Tehran.
Azadi, R. 2017. Ferns of Iran. – In: Assadi, M. et al. (eds.): Flora of Iran. – RIFR, Tehran (in press).
Bagheri, A., Ghahremaninejad, F., Maassoumi, A.A., Ra-himinejad, M.R. and Blattner, F.R. 2017. Nine new sp-ecies of the species-rich genus Astragalus (Legumino-sae). – Novon 25: 266-281.
Bidarlord, M., Ghahremaninejad, F. and Maassoumi, A.A. 2016. A new species of the genus Astragalus (Legumi-nosae) from Northwest Iran. – Phytotaxa 252: 280-284.
Breckle, S.W. and Rafiqpoor, M.D. 2010. Field guide Afghanistan: flora and vegetation. – Scientia Bonnen-sis, Bonn. 863pp.
Breckle, S.W., Hedge, I.C. and Rafiqpoor, M.D. 2013. Vascular plants of Afghanistan: an augmented checkl-ist. – Scientia Bonnensis, Bonn. 598pp.
Dinarvnd, M. and Ale-Bakhit, M. 2013. Rottboellia coch-inochinensis, a new weed for Iran. – Rostaniha 14: 246-247.
CSO. 2012-2013. Statistical yearbook: Area and administrative and population. – Central Statistics Organization, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan; Kabul, http://cso.gov.af.
eFlora. 2017. eFlora of Pakistan. www.efloras.org (accessed 20 Feb. 2017)
Fadaie, F., Attar, F. and Ghahreman, A. 2006. A new record of Aizoaceae (Sesuvium verrucosum Raf.) for the Flora of Iran. – Iranian J. Bot. 12: 87-89.
Frey, W. and Kürschner, H. 2009. New records of bryo-phytes from Afghanistan - with a note on the bryo-logical exploration of the country. – Nova Hedwigia 88: 503-511.
Ghahremaninejad, F. 1999. Flora of Gilan. Vol. 1: Pteriodophytes and Gymnosperms. – Gilan University Press, Rasht (in Persian).
Ghahremaninejad, F. 2015. Notes about Astragalus (Legu-minosae) in Iran. – Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 117: 279-281.
Ghahremaninejad, F. and Nejad Falatoury, A. 2016. An update on the flora of Iran: Iranian angiosperm orders and families in accordance with APG IV. – Nova Biol. Rep. 3: 80-107.
Ghahremaninejad, F., Joharchi, M.R., Fereidounfar, S. and Hoseini, E. 2016. Astragalus orientopersicus, sp. nov. (Fabaceae), a new taxon from the Khorassan province (Iran). – Adansonia 38: 29-33.
Ghahremaninejad, F., Shirzadian, S. and Fereidounfar, S. 2016. An updated list of the bryological literature on Ir-an. – Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 118: 181-=188.
Gholipour, A. 2017. Silene oxelmanii (Caryophyllaceae), a new species from Iran. – Phytotaxa 303: 181-186.
Gholipour, A. and Golshahi, M. 2016. Two interesting annual Silene species (Caryophyllacdeae) for flora of Iran. – Nova Biol. Rep. 3: 205-209.
Gholipour, A., Sajadi, S. and Amini Rad, M. 2016. Notes on Silene chustupica, a new record and occurrence of S. dianthoides in Iran replacing with S. marcowiczii. – Rostaniha 17: 108-114.
Hoseini, E., Ghahremaninejad, F. and Assadi, M. 2016. The indumentum of vegetative and reproductive parts of annual species of Silene (Caryophyllaceae) in Iran. – Progr. Bio. Sci. 6: 107-116.
Khoshravesh, R., Akhani, H., Eskandari, M., Greuter, W. 2009. Ferns and fern allies of Iran. – Rostaniha 10 (Supplement 1).
Maassoumi, A.A. 2015. New names and new synonyms of some Astragalus species. – Iranian J. Bot. 21: 123-125.
Mirtadzadini, M., Akbari, F. and Hatami, E. 2016. Argemone (Papaveraceae), a new genus for the flora of Iran. – Iranian J. Bot. 22: 79-81.
Mozaffarian V. 2016. New species and new records from Gilan Province, Iran. – Iranian J. Bot. 22: 112-120.
Mozaffarian, V. and Yaghoubi, B. 2015. New record of Eichhornia crassipes (Water Hyacinth) from north of Iran. – Rostaniha 16: 208-211.
Pahlevani, A.H. and Sajedi, S. 2011. Alerting occurrence of several noxious weeds and invasive plants in arable lands in Iran. – Rostaniha 12: 129-134.
Podlech, D. 2012. Checklist of the flowering plants of Afghanistan. – Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich. www.sysbot.biologie.unimuenchen.de/de/ personen/ podlech/flowering_plants_afghanistan.pdf
Rahiminejad, M.R., Ghaemmaghami, L. and Sahebi, J. 2004. Chenopodium pumilio (Chenopodiaceae) new to the flora of Iran. – Willdenowia 34:183-186.
Rechinger, K.H. (ed.). 1963-2015. Flora Iranica. 1-174: – Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz; 175: – Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Salzburg; 176-181: – Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien.

Sajedi, S. and Amini Rad, M. 2014. First report of the invasive plant Araujia from Iran. – Rostaniha 15: 71-74.
Sajedi, S. and Amiri, M. 2006. Malvastrum coromandelianum, a new record for Iran. – Rostaniha 7: 95-96.
Sajedi, S., Pahlevani, A.H. and Minbashi, M. 2011. Amsinckia menziesii, first report as a weed species from Iran. – Rostaniha 12: 93-94.
Schloeder, C.A. and Jacobs, M. 2010. Afghanistan Peace Project: Afghanistan Flora: Complete plant species list. – Dept Ecosyst Science and Managem. Texas A&M Univ. 125pp. http://is.d/NbBw7g
Terminology Departmant. 2003-2015. A collection of Te-rms. Vol 1-12. – The Academy of Persian Language and Literature, Tehran.
The International Plant Names Index. [Continuously updated]. www.ipni.org (accessed 10 May 2017).
The Plant List. [Continuously updated]. Version 1.1. www.theplantlist.org (accessed 10 May 2017).
Zaeifi, M. and Ramazanzade, S. 2009. Ogastemma brumitt (Boraginaceae), a new genus for the flora of Iran. – Ir-anian J. Bot. 15: 172-174.
Zare, H., Ramezani Kakroudi and E., Amini, T. 2007. A record of Duchesnea indica (Rosaceae) in Iran, its we-stern most distributional limit in Asia. – Iranian J. Bot. 13: 93-94.

  • Receive Date 08 June 2026
  • Publish Date 08 June 2026

Home

Guide for Authors

Submit Manuscript

Reviewers

Contact Us