In the face of continuous forest degradation, the Village Common Forests (VCFs) are the relics of biodiversity rich areas that are traditionally conserved by indigenous communities for a long time in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), Bangladesh. A vegetation survey was conducted in four VCFs of Khagrachori district to ascertain the phytosociological attributes of VCFs. We set nine quadratic plots (each 10 m × 10 m) for every VCF following three plots in each of base, mid and top of the hill. We had identified the species and measured the diameter of trees ≥ 1 m in height. Biodiversity indices of tropical forests were also collected from published literatures to compare the biodiversity of VCFs and other tropical countries. The results of the phytosociological study revealed that 124 species belonging to 44 families were found in VCFs of Khagrachori district. The dominant family was Euphorbiaceae followed by Moraceae and Rubiaceae. Importance value index (IVI) indicated that the dominant species was Oroxylum indicum (32.34) followed by Vitex peduncularis (13.14) and Grewia nervosa (12.90). The value of Shannon-wiener diversity index (H′), Simpson index (Ds) and Evenness index (EI) of VCFs were 3.26, 0.929 and 0.486 respectively. Analysis of biodiversity indices among the forests did not show any significant (p≤ 0.05) difference indicating that the biodiversity status of VCFs was similar to other natural forests. Moreover, the VCFs of Khagrachori district harbored eight least concerned (LC) and three threatened (T) species of the country. Therefore, we suggested that the forest managers and the policy makers of the country should pay sincere attention to the conservation of local biodiversity through VCFs.
