Floristic Composition and Structure of Riverine Vegetation : The Case of Beschillo and Abay (Blue Nile)

Beschillo is a perennial tributary of Abbay (Blue Nile) and the Blue Nile is one of the major rivers in Ethiopia, which originates from Lake Tana and flows to Sudan. Not much was known about the riverine vegetation in Beschillo and the lower Blue Nile Gorges. Hence, riverine vegetation along Beschillo and Blue Nile rivers was studied with the aim of investigating floristic composition and describing plant community types. A total of 205 vascular plant species were recorded of which, 47.32% were herbs, 6.83 % climbers, 22.44% shrubs and 23.41% were trees. A total of 53 Families and 152 genera were recorded, of these 12% were Poaceae, 10% Fabaceae, 5.4% Acanthaceae, 4.9 % Malvaceae and 4.4%Tiliaceae. The output of cluster analysis revealed 6 distinct communities of the studied riverine vegetation. The density of tree species per ha was 115 whereas the total basal area (BA) of trees species m2 / ha was 12.6.