Pak. J. Bot., 48(3): 1013-1026, 2016. FLORISTIC COMPOSITION AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PLANTS OF CHAIL VALLEY, DISTRICT SWAT, PAKISTAN ASGHAR ALI 1* , LAL BADSHAH 2 , FARRUKH HUSSAIN 3 AND ZABTA KHAN SHINWARI 4 1 Dr Khan Shaheed Govt. Degree College Kabal Swat, Pakistan 2 Department of Botany, University of Peshawar, Pakistan 3 Department of Microbiology, Sarhad University of Science and Information Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan 4 Department of Biotechnology, Quaid e Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan * Correspondingauthore-mail: asghartk@gmail.com Abstract The present study was carried out during 2012- 2014 to enumerate the floristic and ecological characteristics of plants of Chail Valley, District Swat. A total of 463 species belonging to 104 families were recorded. Leading families were Asteraceae (42 Spp), Poaceae (35 Spp), Rosaceae and Lamiaceae (each with 26 Spp), Papilionaceae (25 Spp), Brassicaceae and Boraginaceae (each with 16 Spp), Apiaceae (14 Spp), Solanaceae (13 Species) and Ranunculaceae (12 Spp). Each of the remaining families had less than 12 species. Therophytes with 188 species, 40.60% were dominant. They were followed by hemicryptophytes (77 species, 16.63%). Cuscuta europaea L., C. reflexa Roxb. and Viscum album L. were the three shoot parasites. The leaf spectra was dominated by mesophylls (147 Spp; 31.75%), microphylls (140 Spp.; 30.24%) and nanophylls (136 Spp.; 29.37%). Two species were aphyllous. Majority of the species (305 Spp., 65.87%) had simple lamina. Eight species (1.73%) had spiny leaves. Key words: Floristic diversity, Ecological characteristics, Chail valley, District Swat, Pakistan. Introduction Chail Valley is located between 72 o 32' 1" to 72 o 43' 3" longitude and 35 o 3' 40" to 35 o 11' 40" latitude. The Valley has Mankial and Gornai towns in its North while in the East the valley is guarded by Lelawnai town of District Shangla. On Southern side of the valley lies the town of Pia (Fig. 1). Flora refers to all the plant species found in a particular locality. It differs from vegetation, which refers to the population, distribution, size and relative importance of plant species (Ali, 2008). Floristic inventories help in understanding various attributes of vegetation, soil and climatic features. Chail Valley possesses diverse flora of Sino-Japanese region. The major part of this valley lies in moist temperate region. Stewart (1967) was the first worker to prepare the floristic list of Northwest Pakistan including Swat. Valuable contributions in preparation of floristic lists are made by many workers from abroad such as Alsherif et al. (2013), Blanckaert et al. (2004), Djaha et al. (2008), Addo-Fordjouret al. (2009), Ozgur & Ansin (2003) and Yalcin et al. (2011). Similarly floristic inventories and ecological characteristics of different localities in Pakistan are enumerated by Hussain et al. (2015), Qureshi et al. (2011), Fazal et al. (2010), Haq et al. (2010), Qureshi & Bhatti (2010), Saima et al. (2010; 2009). Ahmad et al. (2014) reported 50 plants of medicinal value from Chail valley. There is no record available on floristic composition and ecological attributes of Chail Valley apart from the references of Ilyas et al. (2013) and Rashid et al. (2011) on Kabal Valley and Malam Jabba respectively. Materials and Methods Regular visits were made for plant collections along with field data in all four seasons during 2012-2014. Plants were dried, preserved and mounted on herbarium sheets. Plants were identified with the help of Flora of Pakistan (Nasir & Ali, 1970-1989; Ali & Nasir, 1989-1992; Ali & Qaiser, 1995-2015). A complete floristic list was prepared and plant families were arranged in alphabetical order. Plant species were classified into leaf size classes and life form according to Raunkiaer (1934) and Hussain (1989). Biological spectrum was determined as per Raunkiaer (1934), Hussain (1989) and Badshah et al. (2013). Results and Discussion Floristics and ecological attributes: Floral diversity refers to all the plants present in any geographic locality, both wild and cultivated. Floristic composition of any area reflects the prevalent climatic conditions, edaphic characteristics, anthropogenic pressure and other natural stresses. Flora of Chail Valley consisted of 104 families, 332 genera and 463 species. Of these Gymnosperms was represented by 3 families (9 Spp), Monocots with 17 families (70 Spp) and Dicots with 84 families (384 Spp). Largest families were Asteraceae (42 Spp), Poaceae (35 Spp), Rosaceae and Lamiaceae (26 Spp) each, Papilionaceae (25 Spp), Brassicaceae and Boraginaceae each with (16 Spp), Apiaceae (14 Spp), Solanaceae (13 Spp), Ranunculaceae (12 Spp), Polygonaceae, Caryophyllaceae and Scrophulariaceae (8 Spp each), Primulaceae and Caprifoliaceae (7 Spp), Araceaea, Moraceae, Cucubitaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Amaranthaceae and Rubiaceae (each with 6 Spp), Pinaceae and Salicaceae (5 Spp. each), Liliaceae, Fagaceae, Geraniaceae, Onagraceae, Malvaceae, Gentianaceae, Convolvulaceae and Oleaceae (each with 4 Spp). Rest of the families were having less than 4 species (Table 1). Durrani et al. (2005), Marwat & Qureshi (2000), Musharaf et al. (2014; 2011) and Parveen eta l. (2008) also reported these families as dominant ones in their study areas. Asterceae, Poaceae, Rosacea, Lamiaceae and Papilionaceae have a wide ecological amplitude and therefore distributed along a diverse range of micro- habitats. The present result is also supported by the Flora of Pakistan (Nasir & Ali, 1970-1989; Ali & Nasir, 1989-1992; Ali & Qaiser, 1995-2015), which also shows these families to be major families.