National Red Data Books
The Red Data Book of rare and threatened plants of Greece.
D. Phitos, A. Strid, S. Snogerup & W. Greuter (Eds). 1995. Pp. 527. WWF-Greece,
Athens. A lavishly illustrated account in English of 263 selected threatened
plants.
The rare, threatened and endemic plants of Greece. IUCN Threatened Plants Committee Secretariat.
Annales Musei Goulandris 5: 69–105 (1982). Lists over 900 threatened taxa.
Floras
Endemic Plants of Greece. The Peloponnese. Kit Tan & Gregoris Iatrou; colour plates by Bent Johnsen. Gads Forlag, København. Pp. 480. 2001. (Available from Gads Publishers Ltd, 32 Vimmelskaftet, DK-1161 Copenhagen K, Denmark (fax +45-33-11-08-00, e-mail sekr@gads-forlag.dk). Read the
Flora Hellenica, Volume 1. Arne Strid & Kit Tan (Eds). Pp. 547. 1997. The first of a lengthy and much needed part Flora.
Flora Hellenica, Volume 2 (Nymphaeaceae–Platanaceae). Arne Strid & Kit Tan (Eds). A.R.G. Gantner Verlag. Pp. 511. 2002. Now published, and available from Koeltz Scientific Books, P.O. Box 1360, D-61463 Koenigstein, Germany (fax +49-6174-937240, www.koeltz.com).
The Mountain Flora of Greece.
Flora of the Cretan Area. N.J. Turland, L. Chilton and J.R. Press. 1996.
Updates in Flora of Crete, A Supplement. L. Chilton & N.J. Turland. 1997. Marengo Publications.
Vegetation
Although formerly well wooded, forest clearance, fire and centuries of overgrazing by sheep and goats have created large areas of maquis, phrygana and secondary steppe. Three main vegetation zones: coastal plains and hills, mostly now with evergreen scrub and in the south degraded phrygana or garique but formerly with dry evergreen forest; the middle slopes of mountains, now cultivated but still supporting large areas of forest dominated by conifers (Pinus, Abies, Juniperus), chestnut, oak and beech; above the tree-line a variety of habitats, mainly of rock and scree, with grassland in the north. Today, forests occupy c. 250,000 sq. km (c. 19% of Greece), of which c. 6% are broadleaved and the remainder coniferous. (Paragraph reproduced with permission from Davis, S.D. et al. (1986). Plants in Danger: What do we know? IUCN, Gland, Switzerland).
Key Institutions
Hellenic Ministry
for the Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works, 17 Amaliavos
Str., 115 23 Athens.
Faculty of Biology,
Botanical Museum, Botanical Garden and Diomidus Botanical Garden, University
of Athens, Panep/poli, 157 01 Ilissia.
Department
of Environment, University of the Aegean, Building "Xenia",
University Hill, 811 00 Mytilene.
Department of Biology, University
of Crete, 74 100 Rethymnon, Crete.
Department
of Biology, University of Patras, Rio, 265 00 Patras.
Ecology and Biodiversity
Laboratory, Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University
of Crete, 731 00 Chania.
Department
of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece.
Hellenic Society for the Protection
of Nature, Nikis 24, 105 57 Athens.
WWF-Greece, 26 Filellinon Street, 105 58 Athens.
The Goulandris
Museum of Natural History, 13 Levidou Street, 145 62 Kifissia, Athens.
Greek Biotope Wetland
Centre, 14th kilometre Thessaloniki Mihaniona, 570 01 Thermi.
Forest Research Institute, 570
06 Vassilika, Thessaloniki.
Other useful links
The website of the Hellenic Ministry for the Environment provides detailed information on the implementation of the NATURA 2000 network in Greece, including general information on Hellenic biodiversity, proposed sites, status quo and maps.
Acknowledgement
Based on material prepared by Hugh Synge for the Council of Europe, 1999-2000. Last update April 2006.
4992 vascular plant species (WCMC, 1998 - see below)
Extinct:
6
