Mt. Jinfu, located at 29°05'N,107°10'E,is the highest mountain in the southeastern
part of Sichuan Province, and is the northern extension of the Dalou Mountains of Guizhou
Province. Its main peak is 2251 m above the sea level, and its bottom is only 600 m.
Since 1920s', Professor P. C. Chen etc.collected about 400 packages of mosses from Mt.
Jinfu. In 1986 and 1987, the present authors and M. Z. Wang collected about 1500 packages
of mosses in the same mountain. From all these specimens, 40 families, 133 genera and 245
species, (including 4 subspecies, 9 varieties and 1 form)are identified, including 4 newly re-
corded species in China. Among them 9 families, 60 genera and 169 species of mosses are first
found in Mt. Jinfu.
Concerning the elements of the mossflora of Mt. Jinfu, East-Asiatic elements are the
most important ones (33.77%), and the Holarctic elements (28.57%)and the tropical and
subtropical elements (24.68%)are also abundant there (Table 1).
The bryoflora of Mt. Jinfu is a part of the bryoflora of Central China, which was recog-
nized by P. C. Chen in 1958. Comparison between the bryofloras of Mt. Jinfu in Southwest
China, the Qinling Range in Northwest China and Mt. Shennongjia in Central China seems
to show that these bryofloras are the transitional ones between North and South China. The
tropical and subtropical elements, such as Duthiella speciosissima, Meteorium
helminthocladum, Chrysocladium retrorsum and Homaliodendron scalpellifolium etc., extend
northwards to the southern slope of the Qinling Range. However, the Holarctic ones,
Cratoneuron filicinum and Aulacomnium heterostichum etc, widely distributed in Europe,
North Asia and North China, are now known from Mt. Jinfu.
Among the genera of mosses endemic to East Asia 11 occur in Mt. Jinfu. In fact,
East-Asiatic genera in Mt. Jinfu consist of Sino-Japanese elements and Sino-Himalayan
ones. The overlapping of the above two elements in Mt. Jinfu (Fig. 1)shows the transitional
characteristic of its bryoflora. They are corresponding to the geographical location and the
characteristic of the climate of Mt. Jinfu.
The ordination method was also used for calculating the bryofloras of 9 major moun-
tains or regions (including Mt. Jinfu)in China(Fig.2). The relationships of the bryoflora be-
tween Mt. Huangshan and Mt. Wuyi are very close, and the bryofloras of West Sichuan and
the Qinling Range are in another group. However, the bryoflora of Mt. Jinfu shows the
transitional characteristic of the mossflora in China.
The concentrated distribution of the East-Asiatic endemic genera and the genera endem-
ic to China in Mt. Jinfu may indicate that Mt. Jinfu and its neighbouring mountains are a
distribution center.
