Flora and Botanic Tourism Potential of Yaral？g？z (Kastamonu) Education and Observation Forest

Aim of Study: In this study, it was aimed to identify the flora of Yaral？g？z Education and Observation Forest and revealing its potential in terms of botanic tourism. Area of study: The study area is the Yaral？g？z Education and Observation Forest, which is within the boundaries of four forest planning units (Devrekani, Tezcan, ？eyh？aban and Karacakaya) belonging to the Kastamonu Regional Directorate. Yaral？g？z Education and Observation Forest is located in the transitional zone between the Euxine province of Euro-Siberian and Irano-Turanian floristic areas in terms of plant geography. Material and Methods: This research is a flora study and the materials of this st？？dy included plant specimens collected from Yaral？g？z Mountainbetween 2011 and 2012. Main Results: With this study, 374 vascular plant taxa were identified. Pteridophyta section were represented by 6 taxa, Pinidae sub-class by 7 taxa, and Magnoliidae subclass by 361 taxa. The largest family was Asteraceae (45; 12.1%), followed by Lamiaceae (35; 9.3%), Rosaceae and Fabaceae (27; 7.2%). The phytogeographic regions of 190 taxa represented in the study area are as follows: Euro-Siberian 144 (38.7%), Irano-Turanian 24 (6.4%) and Mediterranean 22 (5.9%). Raunkiaer’s life forms showed that Hemicryptophytes with 50.7% Phanerophytes with 15.7% and Cryptophytes with 14.9% were the most frequent life forms. Highlights: Twenty-three endemic and one rare plant taxa were identified. In addition, new distribution areas were determined for the endemic taxon Acer hyrcanum subsp. keckianum and European spruce. Because of the presence of many characteristic plant species, Yaral？g？z Education and Observation Forest has been identified to have an important botanic tourism potential