Abstract: The plant species composition, diversity changes and floristic characteristics of Cuifeng mountain in Qujing, Yunnan were analyzed based on the results of field survey from 2019 to 2021 to provide the basic data for the protection of plant species diversity in this area. The results showed that there were 301 species of vascular plants, belonging to 88 families and 222 genera, with Pinaceae, Rosaceae and Asteraceae being the dominant families, and Pinus, Magnolia and Sabina are the dominant genera; that the richness of plant species decreased with the increase of altitude; and that the index of species richness of sample plots at 2100 m and 2200 m is low, which may be resulted from the higher altitude area of Cuifeng mountain being mostly covered by shrubs, and the canopy density being higher. Hitherto, the above reasons may cause the decline of herb diversity on the understory. There are abundant floristic components in this area. Among the distribution types, the temperate geographical distribution of plant genera is the largest (61.89%), and the temperate components are more than the tropical one. The R/T value of these two types is 1.62. The distribution is dominated by temperate geographical components and supplemented by tropical components, and tropical and temperate components permeate each other with obvious transition characteristics.

Key words: vascular plants, flora, species diversity, Cuifeng mountain