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Zitiervorschlag:
Kasperek, Gerwin (2004 ["2001"]): Contributions to the flora and vegetation of Kagbeni (Mustang District, Nepal). In: Pohle, P. & Haffner, W. (eds.): Kagbeni - Contributions to the village's history and geography (Giessener Geographische Schriften 77): 61-80.
Kagbeni and its irrigated oasis are surrounded by subdesert dwarf scrubland. Pioneer communities on scree, and alluvial shrub formations grow on some special sites, occupying only very small portions of the total area. Currently, forests with open canopies occur only at greater distances from the village. At higher elevations, several types of matted dwarf shrub thickets can be found. For interpreting the current state of vegetation, strong anthropogenic influences have to be taken into account; particularly, pasture farming has promoted the development of degraded dwarf scrubland.
In the present study, a list of 76 species of vascular plants is presented for Kagbeni and its immediate surroundings, supplemented with data on the distribution of the species within the entire Mustang District. The data are derived from own investigations and the geobotanical literature. A phytogeographical analysis shows the prevalence of western over eastern elements. Species with a wide distribution in Eurasia, which constitute one third of the total flora of Kagbeni, are of great importance as weeds on arable fields and in ruderal places within the irrigated oasis. Their occurrence is closely related to human activity. Presumably, most of these weeds have reached the area under study in connection with agriculture a long time ago. Weeds from the New World, although recorded in other villages of Mustang District, have not been found in Kagbeni.
The weed vegetation of Kagbeni is documented by nine vegetation relevés, and is compared to relevés from Jomsom and Marpha. A floristic gradient from south to north that has been detected by earlier investigations throughout the whole district can be reproduced at the local scale. With regard to the weed flora, the effects of different crops are minimal compared to the effects of altitude and other factors related to altitude.