Pinus

Rahman, A. U., Ullah, Z., Qureshi, R., Burslem, D. F. R. P. & Mashwani, Z. U. R., 2022, Composition and structure of plant communities in the Moist Temperate Forest Ecosystem of the Hindukush Mountains, Pakistan, Brazilian Journal of Biology (e 266637) 82, pp. 1-14 : 6

3.9. Pinus - Viburnum - Lithospermum community (PVL)

This is a unique association with the greater number of 126 plant species which represents the best growth of vegetation. The community is situated at lower altitudes between 2000-2230m. The highest importance value 46.2 were recorded for Pinus wallichiana that stands 1 st dominant among 14 tree species, 19.6 for Viburnum grandiflorum as 1 st dominant among 23shrub species and 6.7 Lithospermum arvense as 1 st dominant among 89 herb species. The 2 nd most dominant tree species were Pyrus pashia (44.6 IVI), Ficus carica (29.6 IVI), Ailanthus altissima (27.3 IVI), Diospyros lotus L. (26.6 IVI) and Platinus orientale (26.6 IVI). 2 nd most dominant shrubs with nearest importance values were 19.1,18.6,16.5,16.3,16.3 were recorded for C.microphyllus , B.parkeriana , J.humile , S.saligna and S.canescens respectively (supplementary material 3). Recorded 2 nd dominant 6 herbs were V. jatamansi (5.9 IVI), V. thapsus (5.9 IVI), G. ocillatum (5.3 IVI), S.urticifolia (5.2 IVI), T. royleanum (5.1 IVI) and S. auriculata (5.0 IVI). Overall, 5 plant species Anaphalis triplinervis , Arisaema flavum , Artemisia japonica, Arthraxon prionodes and Festuca gigantean of PVL association type with lowest importance values were rare. PVL community contained silty loam soil that highly acidic (pH 3.7-4.6) and contained 3.9-2.5% organic matter, potassium 155.52- 85.37mg /Kg, 7.9-3.5% calcium carbonate, phosphorous 2.1- 1.23mg /Kg, nitrogen 0.37-0.24%, EC 0.26-0.11 dSm-1. Silt, sand and clay values were 43.7-36.1%, 39.4-15.6% and 7.1-3.7% respectively. The community is under severe grazing and deforestation pressure(DP) however terrain cultivation was common to this community.