The Vegetation of Kokum Island

居金島의 植生

This study was performed to investigated the flora and vegetation of Kokum-do island from July 1982 thru December 1983; and the findings hereof are summarized as follows: The flora investigated thereform comprises 737 species whih are classified into 128 families, 466 genera, 651 species, 79 varieties and 7 formae; and those which are worthy of close attention among the same include such endemic species of Korea as Celtis choseniana, Corylopsis coreana, Carpinus tschonoskii var. eximia and Tricyrtis dilatata, and a few plants, to be distributed in the north, such as Lilium distichum, Girardinia cuspidata and Orostachys sikokianus. Now that the said island belongs to the warm temperate zone, the distribution thereof consists of 120 species of evergreen plants including 74 species of evergreen broadleaf trees. The rich distribution of evergreen broadleaf trees in the island is thanks to the plantation thereof by the public organizations for scenic beauty. The destruction of flora in this island was caused by felling, fire nization and other human activities around 1940, and in particular, has been correlated with the population densiity of Yonhong-do, Sanghwa-do, and Hahwado islets; and that of top soil and ground vegetation in he quarry area of Ojon-ri town resulted from the collection of natural rocks an stones. It is evaluated as necessary that such evergreen broadleaf trees as Castanopsis cuspidata var. thunbergii, Machillus thunbergii and Ligustrum japonicum of Hyongje-do. Chun-do, Tok-do, Taech'wi-do, and Soch'wi-do islets, andPhyllostachys bambusoides, Caesalpinia japonica and Albizzia julibirssin of Kokum-do island, and Machillus thunbergii of Hongryon-ri town be under protection. The average DGN of the whole archipelago proves to be 5.84, which shows the tendency of the inverse proportion to the number of resident population per unit area. The pteridophyta distributed in this island comprises 39 species, and the coefficient of cryptogam as to the destruction of vegetation shows a high value of 1.4 which is regarded as indicating the diversified distribution of pteridophyta, forestbed shade plants under the forestbeds of some wellpreserved lots of this island. The naturalized plants, distributed in this island, were found out comprising a total of 23 species, and the Urbanization Index(UI) as to the destruction degree of natural vegetatioin shows a low value of 20.9.