Aspects of the flora and vegetation of the "Izvorul Bigăr" Nature Reserve (south-western Romania).

Abstract

The “Izvorul BigAƒr” Nature Reserve is located in south-western Romania. The aim of the present paper is to describe some aspects of the flora and vegetation around BigAƒr spring. The analysis of the vegetal association was carried out using the method of the Central-European phytocoenological school. The vegetation around the BigAƒr spring and waterfall is dominated by compact beech forests with a frequently reduced grassy layer and soil rich in humus. On the banks of the watercourse and on the rocks around the spring there are species specific to flooding plains of the beech sub-stratum and also thermophilous and xerophilous species, many of them Balkan, Pontic or Mediterranean elements. The phytocoenoses we analysed belong to the Phyllitidi - Fagetum Vida (1959) 1963 association. The association is characteristic to shady and moist slopes with soils rich in humus and formed on a lime substratum sometimes with surface rocks. The species with high abundance-dominance values are: Fagus sylvatica, Fraxinus ornus, Acer pseudoplatanus, Tilia cordata, Hedera helix, Asplenium scolopendrium, Arum orientale, Asarum europaeum, Cardamine bulbifera, Lunaria annua, Polypodium vulgare. Such species as Carpinus orientalis, Cotinus coggygria, Fraxinus ornus, Ruscus hypoglossum, Syringa vulgaris point out the thermophilous character of the forests in southern Banat.