Jiuhuashan is located in the subtropic warm-moist climate zone and owns a mosaic structure of subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest, deciduous broad-leaved forest and needle-leaved forest impacted by mountains and valleys. The plant vegetation there presents the feature of vertical zonality. In the zone of elevation of ≦200 m, the major vegetation types are secondary broadleaved forest, small portion of Pinus massoniana forest, bamboo forest and bush. In the zone of elevation of 200-700 m, the major vegetation types are mixed forest and bamboo forest. In the zone of elevation of 700-1,000 m, the major vegetation type is evergreen-deciduous broadleaved mixed forest. In the zone of elevation of over 1,000 m, the major vegetation types are coniferous forest and mountain bush.

There are 1,582species of higher plants in Jiuhuashan, divided into 727 genera of 175 families. There are 9 species listed as the second-class national protected plants, 6 species were listed as the third-class national protected plants, 10 species were listed as the provincial protected plants, among which six species are named after Jiuhuashan, namely, Sinosenecio jiuhuashanicus, Carex manca subsp. Jiuhaensis, Chloranthus anhuiensis, Schizophragma corylifolium, Carex qingyangensis, Lindernia jiuhuanica. Sinosenecio jiuhuashanicus (Fig.1) is most rare.

There are 449 species of old and valuable trees in Jiuhuashan Geopark, and mainly distributed inside the Jiuhua Street cirque, which belong to seven communities. They are Ganlu Temple Community, Zhiyuan Temple Community, Taibaishutang Community, Yueliangwan Community, Pipaxing Community, Flesh Palace Community and Minyuan Community, respectively. It has become a key ecological science education area. Provincial flower of Anhui Province Rhododendron anhweiense Wils (Fig.2) and provincial tree of Anhui Province Pinus taiwanensis (Fig.3) are distributed in Jiuhuashan.

Fig.1 Sinosenecio jiuhuashanicus

Fig.2 Rhododendron anhweiense Wils

Fig.3 Pinus taiwanensis

Tab.1 List of protected plants of Jiuhuashan Geopark