COST Action E 52 - vTI - Bund.de

Fig. 2: Map of natural range of Fagus orientalis L. in Bulgaria
Fagus sylvatica L. forms both large pure stands and mixed ones with some deciduous species such
as hornbeam, sycamore, durmast oak, Norway maple, Balkan maple, limes, common ash, silver
birch, aspen, rowan, wild service tree and bird cherry. In the higher parts of the mountains it mixes
with coniferous species as Norway spruce and silver fir, rarely with Scots pine and Macedonian
pine. Large European beech forests occur in the mountain belt on north slopes and on fresh to wet
rich soils. The mixed hornbeam-beech stands are about 100,000 ha, 0,000 ha of them being in the
Balkan range.
The most productive are the mixed stands of European beech, Norway spruce and silver fir, which in
Parangalitsa reserve of the Rila Mt. at 1,400 m reach growing stock of 1,600 m3 /ha.
During the last decade a process of beech area extension to higher altitudes has been observed as
a result of climatic changes and limited pasture.
Oriental beech as a Pontic species is a colonizer in the Strandzha Mt., where it forms mixed stands
usually on north exposures. The species most frequently concomitant are evergreen shrubs as
Rhododendron ponticum L., Laurocerasus officinalis Roem. and Ilex colchica Pojark. In East Balkan
range Fagus orientalis occurs in deep defiles and on north exposures up to 550 m a. s. l. In the
mixed stands it grows with Carpinus betulus L. and more limited with Tilia tomentosa Moench.,
Acer pseudoplatanus L. and other deciduous species.
The ecological conditions in the wide altitudinal range of Fagus sylvatica L. distribution in Bulgaria
determine the presence of the following ecotypes (Dobrinov, Doykov, Gagov 1982, Alexandrov
1990):
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