Abstract
An account is given of the halophytic vegetation and flora of Iran. With respect to field studies the halophytic vegetation of Iran is classified into 10 vegetational units. Also, a total of 165 halophytic and salt tolerant species within 73 genera of flowering plants are recognized as a first provisional list of the halophytic flora of Iran. Some data on the life form, distribution, chorotype, halotype and photosynthetic pathway (if available) are given. Finally the role of man in destroying the halophytic vegetation is briefly discussed and a proposal is made to use some of the halophytes for soil improvement.
1. Introduction
Iran is the classical country of great salines and Kavirs (Zohary 1973). Halophytic communities of Iran are still among the most poorly known vegetation units in Iran. This is mainly due to the absence of up-to-date information on the halophytes and the interest of most botanists and ecologists in the rich flora of low-salt or salt-free habitats. Our knowledge of the list of halophytes is restricted to Flora Iranica (Rechinger 1963) where, however, habitats of the plants are rarely given; as well as the local contributions on the desert areas of Iran, such as: Rechinger & Wendelbo (1976), Rechinger (1977), Ghorbanli & Lambinon (1978), Leonard (1981-1989) and Akhani (1990).
