DIVERSITY OF WEEDS AND THEIR ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AT TEHSIL MANKI SHARIF, DISTRICT NOWSHERA, PAKISTAN

The present study was conducted in order to assess the weed flora of Tehsil Manki Sharif, District Nowshera Pakistan during 2013-14. A total of 46 weed species belonging to 21 families and 43 genera were reported from the research area. The dominant family was Asteraceae with 11 species followed by Papilionaceae and Plantagonaceae with four species each. The family Poaceae was represented by four species; Solanaceae, Euphorbiaceae and Brassicaceae were having two species each, while the remaining families shared only one species each. In survey, the dominant life form was therophyle (36 species with 76%), followed by Geophyte (7 species with 15.2%), and hemicryptophyte (4 species with 8.6%). The leaf size spectra showed that mesophylls were the dominant class with 14 species from the study area, followed by microphyll with 10 species and Nanophyll with 8 species.