Distribution and Phytocoenotic Context of Kobresia simpliciuscula (Wahlenb.) Mack. in South-Eastern Carpathians

Abstract

This study proposes a critical analysis of the distribution and habitat requirements of the rare arctic-alpine plant species Kobresia simpliciuscula (Wahlenb.) Mack. in the South-Eastern Carpathians. The species was recorded in this part of Carpathians only from Romania, in Bucegi Mountains. The mention of K. simpliciuscula in Rodna Mountains (Eastern Carpathians) is considered to be erroneous. K. simpliciuscula was found in the Southern Carpathians in a different habitat type compared to the one characteristic for populations in the Arctic and the Alps. The species does not grow in the pioneer phytocoenoses of the Caricion bicoloris-atrofuscae alliance but, on the contrary, in dry calciphilous alpine vegetation included in Oxytropido-Elynion. The plant communities where K. simpliciuscula was found in Bucegi Mountains belong to Achilleo schurii-Dryadetum (Beldie 1967) Coldea 1984. These phytocoenoses are very similar to those described for the species in Belianske Tatra Mountains (Western Carpathians, Slovakia).