Dry grassland communities of erysimo-trifolietum in the northeastern part of the Republic of Macedonia

Abstract

The study deals with the distribution and classification of the association Erysimo-Trifolietum Micevski 1977 (alliance Trifolion cherleri Micevski 1971, order Astragalo-Potentilletalia Micevski 1971, class Festuco-Brometea Br. Bl. et Tx. 1943). The association develops on siliceous bedrock of the northern and northeastern parts of the Republic of Macedonia. After the research of dry grasslands in the region of Kratovo, enough information was available to prepare a synthetic overview of the association Erysimo-Trifolietum. Within the frame of this association, two new subassoaciations are described-subass. scleranthetosum subass. nova and subass. brachypodietosum subass. nova. Analysis of geoelements showed that sub-Mediterranean species are the most numerous and analysis of life forms provided evidence of their therophyto-hemicryptophytic physiognomy. The paper also presents the localities of occurrence, their floristic composition, synecological characteristics, life forms incidence and areal types.