Abstract
Protected areas play an important role in the conservation of biodiversity and provide life supporting ecosystem services to sustain the human wellbeing and their livelihood. In the present study, we provide a preliminary floristic checklist of Kazinag national park, located in the Kashmir Himalaya. The checklist includes 186 taxa (182 species, 2 subspecies, and 2 varieties) belonging to 147 genera in 55 families. The angiosperms were represented by 181 taxa (97.31%) belonging to 142 genera in 71 families, while gymnosperms are represented by 5 species (2.69%) belonging to 5 genera in 2 families. Asteraceae was the dominant family with 24 species, followed by Ranunculaceae and Rosaceae with 14 and 13 species respectively. Likewise, Astragalus followed by Erigeron and Impatiens were the dominant genera with 3 species each. The herbs were dominant (147 species, 79.03%), followed by shrubs (19, 10.22%) and trees (14, 7.53%). Lifespan wise, perennials were dominant (164 species, 88.17%), followed by annuals (21, 11.29%) and biennials (1, 0.54%). The hemicryptophytes were dominanat (110 species, 59.14%), followed by phanerophytes (36, 19.35%) and therophytes (22, 11.83%). This is the first comprehensive floristic checklist with assessment of their life-history traits from this Himalayan protected area, and the information can be used in conservation strategies for flora and management decisions about this national park and other protected areas in the region.