Balkan endemic vascular plants of Montenegro - Critical inventory with chorological and life-form analyses

Abstract

Balkan endemic taxa are those whose distribution is restricted exclusively to the Balkan Peninsula. In the vascular flora of Montenegro there are 372 Balkan endemic taxa (at the species and subspecies levels), of which 39 taxa are distributed only in Montenegro. This paper presents an overview of the Balkan endemic taxa in Montenegro with their families, chorological groups, life-form categories and distribution by geographical subregion. The richest families in terms of Balkan endemic taxa are Asteraceae and Caryophyllaceae, while the richest genus is Hieracium (Asteraceae). The chorological structure of the flora shows that the largest numbers of Balkan endemic taxa are from the S European mountain and C European mountain chorological groups, while in the life-form spectrum of the flora hemicryptophytes and chamaephytes are the most numerous. The presence of Balkan endemic taxa in the six geographical subregions of Montenegro is also analysed. Floristic similarities among the geographical subregions are shown with a cluster analysis.