Mapping Asia plants: Floristic studies of the Russian Caucasus at the regional level

Abstract

The Ciscaucasus and the Russian North Caucasus covers an area of approximately 258.3 sq. km (≈ 1.5% of Russia’s total area) with a length from north-east to south-west of — 350 km, and from north-west to south-east of — 1100 km. Systematic floristic studies of this area began in the 19th century, when Lipsky (1899) for the first time compiled a complete “Flora of the Caucasus…”, which numbered 4430 species. A very important source of the first half of the 20th century is “Flora Caucasica Critica” (Kuznetsov et al., 1901—1916, not finished). The most important modern sources of floristic information in this territory are the “Flora of the Caucasus” (Grossheim, 1936—1967, not finished) and “Synopsis of the Flora of the Caucasus” (Takhtadzhyan, 2003—2012, not finished). The most important macro-regional and regional floristic reviews: “Manual-key to Higher Plants of the Northwestern Caucasus and Ciscaucasia” (Kosenko, 1970), “Flora of the North Caucasus” (Galushko, 1978—1980), 3th edition of “Stavropol Flora Checklist” (Ivanov, 2005), “Flora of the Northwest Caucasus” (Zernov, 2006); "Dagestan Flora Checklist" (Murtazaliev, 2009), “Illustrated Flora of the South of the Russian Black Sea Region” (Zernov, 2013), “Vegetation Cover of Kabardino-Balkaria” (Shkhagapsoev, 2015), “Manual-key to Vascular Plants of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic” (Zernov et al., 2015). From 9 regions of the Ciscaucasus and the Russian North Caucasus, 6 have high-quality flora or synopses of flora, 1 region studied at the average level, and 2 — are problematic. In the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, floristic research focuses on invasive plants, and we do not have rich information about the Chechen Republic.