Abstract
ABSTRACT The aim of the present study is to elucidate the floristic composition and to document the current plant diversity of protected area (Researches Station) of Agriculture Faculty, University of Tripoli. The current study revealed that (110) plant species belonging to (95) genera and (35) families (31 dicots and 4 monocots) were recorded from the study area. The most highly represented families are the Asteraceae (22 species), the Poaceae (16 species), and the Fabaceae (12 species). The dominance of Asteraceae and Poaceae families are an indication of the increased diversity of herbs in the area, as well as of the cosmopolitan nature of the families and they are dominated the Mediterranean climate conditions. To determine the floristic composition of plant species in the study area the following characters were studied: life forms, chorotypes and create a list of vascular plants species. According to Raunkiaer's method, the highest life form recorded were Therophytes (52.73 %), Hemicryptophytes (14.54%), and Chamaephytes (13.63%), while the least represented life forms were the Phanerophytes with five species (6.36%) and Nanophanerophytes with three species (2.72 %). The only halophytic plant we registered was Scirpus holoschoenus. The combination of the high percentage of Mediterranean species and the high percentage of therophytes reflects the Mediterranean character of the flora of the studied area. The dominance of Therophytes and Mediterranean chorotypes were expected because the study area is located within the Mediterranean region in which the Mediterranean Therophytes are dominating.