An annotated checklist of bryophytes of Iran, with notes on phytogeography

The climate of Iran is mainly arid or semi-arid, except for the area in the south of the Caspian Sea on the northern slope of the Alborz Mountains and some regions of western Iran in the Zagros Mountains. These ecoregions are much lusher than the surrounding desert, semi-desert, and steppe ecoregions. As a result, most of the Iranian bryophyte diversity is found in these Mountains. This checklist is compiled from previous studies of Iran's vast territory up to the end of December ۲۰۲۵. However, there is still much remaining ambiguity in the taxonomy of bryophytes in Iran, even at the family level, and these problems have, so far, been mostly ignored in Iranian research. The early surveys, which focused on morphology, started in ۱۸۶۰. Over the ۱۶۵ years since then, along with changes at different levels in taxa, the number of moss species known in Iran has reached ۵۵۴ species and ۴۰ subspecies (۵۹۴ taxa). Of these, ۷۲ are hepatics (Marchantiophyta), ۴۸۰ are mosses (Bryophyta), and ۲ are hornworts (Anthocerotophyta). Besides the checklist itself, the distributions of the species in the geographical and chorological elements of Iran are indicated.

کلیدواژه ها:

Anthocerotophyta ، Bryophyta ، geographical distribution ، Marchantiophyta ، Middle East