Flora of South Albania

Abstract

THERE can be few areas in Europe about which less is known of the flora than southern Albania. Large areas in the south of the country have been either wholly untouched by collectors or visited on a single occasion often only for a single day. Having regard to the richness of the flora of the Balkan Peninsula, the whole area might well be expected to yield results of taxonomic and plant geographical importance. Two expeditions made by A. H. G. Alston and N. Y. Sandwith (J. Bot., May-Oct. 1940) in 1933 and 1935 have shown that the limestone mountains of the area reproduce in the main the characteristic flora of the Greek Epirus and the Pindus, and the vegetation of the higher serpentine areas is similar to that of parts of central Albania.