Rila Monastery Nature Park Management Plan - part - usaid

February 2004
брой видове
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
3600
2076
България НП"Централен
Балкан"
Higher plants number
1400 1400
НП"Рила" ПП"Рилски
манастир
Fig. 9 The proportional ratio between numbers of higher plant species in
Bulgaria, Central Balkan and Rila National Parks and Rila Monastery NP
The richest diversity of plant species can be found in the coniferous and sub-alpine
zones: 1,000 to 1,200 identified species. The greatest wealth of plant species has been
established in the higher reaches of Rila Monastery Forest Reserve, the Iliyna,
Radovichka and Tiha Rila River Valleys, and at the piedmont to Kalinin Peak, just
above the village of Pastra. Conversely, poorest in plant diversity is the alpine treeless
zone, which is home to some 250-300 identified species.
From a phytogeographic perspective, the flora in Rila Monastery NP is made up of
some 50 types of components:
1. Eurasian component: ca. 158 species. Examples include Stipa balcanica,
Artemisia eriantha), etc.;
2. Circumboreal component: 135 species. This is the group of glacial relics.
Typical examples: the presence of several species of the genus Saxifraga; several
species of willow (Salix herbacea, Salix reticulata and Salix retusa), and of Dryas
octopetala;
3. The Central-European component: 125 species. Typical examples are the
species of the genus Luzula; and also the spread of Hypericum richerii and Veronica
bellidioides, in the alpine unwooded zone;);
4. Mediterranean component: - 307 species. The most common species in the
territory of RMNP is the Balkan (Chamaecytisus absinthioides);
5. Endemic component: local, Bulgarian and Balkan endemics.
The great diversity of florogeographic elements provides evidence of the connections
between the Park flora and more or less geographically remote territories, as well as
of the Park’s significance as an ecological corridor for maintaining genetic exchange
between plant populations.
Conservation significance and status of higher plants
The total number of endemic taxa is 123 (6 locally endemic, 27 endemic to Bulgaria
and 90 to the Balkans). The widest-spread locally endemic taxon in the territory of
RMNP is that of the Rila cowslip (Primula deorum). Of the species endemic to
Bulgaria most common in the Park are Jasione bulgarica, Alopecurus riloensis,
Silene roemeri, and Viola orbelica. And lastly, the best-represented Balkan endemics
are Geum bulgaricum, Aquilegia aurea, Armeria rumelica, Crocus veluchensis,
Dianthus microlepis and some others.
Appendix 13 contains a list of the higher plant species of conservation significance in
Rila Monastery Nature Park.
Rila Monastery Nature Park
Management Plan -Draft
2004 - 2013
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