Greece’s remarkable plant diversity
Greece hosts more than 6600 plant taxa, accounting for ca. 30% of the European flora, even though it consists a small fragment of Europe’s area. Eight genera are Greek endemics, seven of which are monotypic. Nearly 1500 taxa (22%) are endemic to Greece and new taxa are being described each year1.
The rediscoveries
Several taxa have been described and reported from Greece, but have not been seen or found for a very long time. The most prominent member of this group was Biebersteinia orphanidis Boiss. which had not been collected since 1851. In 1994, Ass. Prof. Th. Constantinidis found it on a mountain close to Mt. Kyllini. Since then, some other taxa thought to be extinct have been discovered.
- Approx. 7 taxa/year since 2006 ^