The Vascular Flora of Rarau Massif (Eastern Carpathians, Romania). Note I

The present study is concerned with the flora of the Rar u Massif, an area lying in the northeastern part of Romania, nearby the town of Campulung Moldovenesc. This study attempt to list all the vascular plants (i.e. ferns, conifers, and flowering plants) from the whole area of Rar u Massif. Till now, there are published several papers on this area, but no paper deals with the whole surface of Rar u Massif. The research was carried out between 2000 to 2011. During the study period, 1377 taxa (1089 species and 288 subspecies), belonging to 95 families and 411 genera; 43 of the species belong to Pteridophytes, 8 belongs to Gymnosperms, and 1038 belongs to Angiosperms (835 Dicotyledons, 203 Monocotyledons) subdivisions. The largest families (in terms of the number of species and subspecies included) are: Asteraceae (167), Poaceae (78), Brassicaceae (53), Rosaceae and Lamiaceae (50), Scrophulariaceae and Cyperaceae (47), Caryophyllaceae and Ranunculaceae (42). The highest number of species, of a certain genus, is like the next: Carex L. (39), Centaurea L. (25), Hieracium L. (21), Festuca L. (19), Senecio L. (12), Cirsium, Pilosella, and Poa (11), etc. Since the flora of the area is analysed according to Raunkiaer’s life forms, the results are as follows: Hemicryptophytes 605 species (H=55.6%), Cryptophytes (also called Geophytes) 137 species (G=12.6%), Therophytes 120 species (11.0%), Phanerophytes 84 species (Ph=7.7%), Chamaephytes 57 species (Ch=5.2%), Hemitherophytes 77 species (Ht=7.1%), Helo-hydatophytes 8 species (HH=0.7%), and Epiphytes 1 species (Ep=0.1%). The phytogeographic elements are the next ones: European=375 species (36.6%), Eurasian=349 species (34.0%), Circumboreal=148 species (14.8%), Cosmopolite=37 species (3.6%), Carpathians=31 species (3.0%), Pontics=19 species (1.9%), Mediterranean-submediterrannean=11 species (1.1%), and Adventitious=2 species (0.2%). The number of endemic and near-endemic taxa (species and subspecies) within the study area is 53 (5.2%).