Grassland flora of ultramafic areas in Northern Pindus (Greece)

In Europe, the largest and most floristically diverse ultramafic (serpentine) outcrops are located on the Balkan Peninsula. In Greece, the Northern Pindus mountain range is characterized as a floristic diversity hotspot, due to the presence of large ultramafic outcrops that harbor a large number of nickel (Ni) hyperaccumulators with potential use in agromining. The work presented here is part of a more in-depth study of floristic composition and ecology of plant communities in ultramafic grasslands of the Northern Pindus mountain range. In 2021-2022, 120 releves in three subareas (sA1, sA2, and sA3) were sampled according to the Braun-Blanquet method. We identified 493 plant taxa belonging to 61 families. The most abundant families were Asteraceae, Poaceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, and Caryophyllaceae. A total of 22 plant taxa are endemic to Greece. Ninety-five taxa are of Balkan origin while 158 taxa are distributed to the broader Mediterranean region. The highest number of plant life-forms are hemicryptophytes (56.39%) and therophytes (23.33%). Eight Ni hyperaccumulators including Centaurea thracica, Bornmuellera baldaccii, Bornmuellera emarginata, Bornmuellera tymphaea, Noccaea boeotica, Noccaea tymphaea, Odontarrhena chalcidica, and Odontarrhena smolikana were recorded. This study aims to enhance the knowledge of ultramafic grassland flora in the Northern Pindus mountain range (Greece). Data on various aspects of the flora, including taxonomical structure, life-form and chorological spectra, endemism, and conservation status of the taxa constituting the flora, are presented. image