Are there any special plants on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau?

From the geographical composition of plant species, there are obvious regional differences in different regions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The low-altitude areas in the southern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the southern wing of the East Himalaya belong to the paleotropical flora, which is dominated by tropical geographical elements. Although there are many species, there are few species in each genus, which shows that it is located in the northern margin of paleotropical flora and belongs to tropical Asian elements, and its origin is mostly ancient. Such as Cephalotaxus fortunei of Cephalotaxus, Adiantum of Hamamelidaceae, Lonicera japonica of Caprifoliaceae, etc. The southeastern part of the plateau belongs to the forest flora, mainly composed of China-Himalayan elements, and contains a large number of woody plants, which constitute various types of forests, such as some evergreen trees of FAGACEAE, FAGACEAE, Lauraceae, representative trees of Alpine Quercus and coniferous forests, such as Alpine pine, Qiao Song, various Abies, spruce, etc. The modern distribution center of rhododendrons is here.

Within the plateau, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is dominant. It has a young and independent history, and many species and genera gradually adapted to the cold and arid ecological conditions during the intense uplift of the plateau. Typical representative plants such as Artemisia capillaris, Stipa purpurea, sand-fixing grass, Artemisia Tibetan, Ceratoides, etc. The arid areas such as northwest plateau and Qaidam basin are dominated by desert elements in Central Asia, such as Ceratoides arborescens, Ephedra, Hedyotis diffusa, Salsola salsa and Stipa arenaria. Typical temperate and alpine components, such as plum blossom, tall fescue and Polygonum viviparum, are widely distributed on the plateau, and are often components of alpine shrubs and meadows.

Therefore, as far as flora is concerned, the whole Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region belongs to pan-Arctic flora except its southern margin. The southeast belongs to the China-Himalayan forest plant subregion, the northern Qaidam basin belongs to the Asian desert plant subregion, and the hinterland of the plateau is a unique Qinghai-Tibet plateau plant subregion.