Investigation of the medicinal plant resources and their diversity at Changbaishan Mountain Areas, northeastern China

Based on the investigation for seven years, the medicinal plants in Changbaishan Mountain, northeastern China were found to include 33 forms, 130 varieties and 1 063 species of plants, belonging to 481 genera and 129 families, which account for 9.00%, 22.71% and 47.60% of the respective species, genera and families of medicinal plant resources in all of China.There are 61 species of rare and endangered medicinal plants at Changbaishan Mountain, accounting for 5.74% of the medicinal plants there.Furthermore, there are 699 species of perennial herbs, occupying 65.76% of the plants in Changbaishan Mountain, as well as 25 species of native medicinal plants in the northeast area of the mountain, accounting for 2.35% of the medicinal plants.In this area, whole herbs, roots and rhizomes used as medicinal materials occupy 47.60%, 19.00% and 11.01% of the medicinal plants there;and antipyretic medicine and rheumatism medicine account for 54.00% and 11.01% of them, respectively.Of the total amount of species, 93.51% are distributed in Korean pine broadleaved-conifer mixed forest zones with an altitude of 450 (-) 1 000 m.Dominant families are mainly Composiatae, Ranunculaceae, Liliaceae, etc;dominant genera are mainly Polygonum, Aconitum, Potentilla, etc.Some suggestions for protection and exploitation of the medicinal plants were put forward.