Abstract
Summary The forest vegetation of Colchis has been described by some Western European phytogeographers as broad-leaved evergreen. However, this was due to a lack of information. Scientists from Western Europe were not allowed to carry out field studies in Georgia until the country became independent, while no paper in English was available until 1999. Here we present some phytogeographical observations on the Colchic forest based on a study trip undertaken in Colchis and on data contained in papers not easily found in libraries. We show that the Colchic forest is a deciduous forest dominated by Fagus orientalis, Castanea sativa, Carpinus betulus, Alnus glutinosa ssp. barbata in varying proportions depending on altitude and soil, with a thick evergreen shrub layer composed mainly of Rhododendron ponticum, Prunus laurocerasus and Ilex colchica. No evergreen species reach the tree layer, except the lianas Smilax excelsa and Hedera colchica and, at higher altitudes, the conifers Abies nordmanniana and Picea or...
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