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ISSN 2529-184X
HELLENIC BOTANICAL SOCIETY - NEWSLETTER
ISSUE 4
J U LY 2 0 1 8
The floristic diversity of Greece:
October 2013 - June 2018
The milestone, after which we responded more accurately on the number
of plants that comprise the flora of Greece, coincides with the publication
of the first comprehensive and annotated checklist of the Vascular Plants
of Greece in 2013 (Dimopoulos et al., 2013) and of the supplement of the
edition in 2016 (Dimopoulos et al., 2016). Taking into account the data from
2013/2016 data and the updated and documented bibliographic information
to date ( July 2018), it became evident that:
SUMMARY IN ENGLISH
Figure 1. Distribution of the total floristic richness, of the richness in
endemics, and of the range-restricted taxa at the continental and insular
floristic regions of Greece.
4000
Total taxa
3500
Endemic
Range-restricted
3000
2500
■ ■ the flora of Greece currently consists of 5836 species (5758 species in
2013) and 1985 subspecies (1970 subspecies in 2013) of vascular plants,
which represent 6705 taxa (6620 taxa in 2103) and belong to 1078 gener-
ations and 185 families.
■ ■ the endemics and the range-restricted plants of Greece include respec-
tively 1491 and 2006 taxa (22.3% and 30% of the total number of taxa in
Greece), distributed in 1103 endemic and 1488 range-restricted species
(18.9% and 25.5% of the total number of Greek species) and 456 endem-
ic and 623 limited subspecies (23.1% and 31.4% of all Greek subspecies).
The floristic richness (total species richness) is not evenly distributed across
the different regions of Greece; the flora in the central and northern con-
tinental parts of the country are richer in absolute numbers compared to
island regions that are somewhat poorer in plant species; these differences
reflect the greater heterogeneity of habitat conditions and the higher num-
ber of phytogeographical elements found to the continental areas (Table 1).
Regarding the endemic richness, the opposite trend is observed, i.e. the
endemic richness increases from the North to the South (Figure 1, 2).
Table 1. Number of families, genera, species, subspecies and taxa
of the vascular plants in each of the 13 floristic regions of Greece.
Floristic region
16
Families Genera
Species Subspecies
Taxa
IoI (Ionian Islands) 146 699 1953 525 2003
NPi (Northern Pindos) 147 746 2588 838 2726
SPi (Southern Pindos) 155 797 2670 823 2792
Pe (Peloponnisos) 160 865 3009 924 3206
StE (Sterea Ellas) 160 865 3136 987 3341
EC (East Central) 144 714 2096 569 2107
NC (North Central) 158 824 3122 1019 3358
NE (North East) 164 874 3288 1059 3547
NAe (North Aegean Islands) 145 690 1971 502 1975
WAe (West Aegean Islands) 147 700 2040 584 2092
Kik (Kiklades) 138 630 1700 467 1791
KK (Kriti and Karpathos) 146 703 2085 572 2217
EAe (East Aegean Islands) 152 759 2398 662 2535
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Pe
StE
NC
SPi
NPi
NE
Mainland regions
EC
KK
WAe
Kik
EAe
IoI
NAe
Insular regions
The endemic richness (in absolute numbers) and the rate of endemism
are not evenly distributed in the floristic regions of Greece (Figure 1, 2).
According to the current documented general model, South-Greece (Pelo-
ponnese, Kriti-Karpathos, Sterea Ellas) and East-Greece are the richest in
absolute numbers of endemics (Figure 3a, 3b).
Figure 2. Number of plant taxa (total floristic richness,
of the richness in endemics, and of the range-restricted taxa)
in each of the 13 floristic regions of Greece.