Article

Alibotush Reserve is located in Slavyanka Mountain, Southwestern Bulgaria, near the state border with Greece. It was established as protected area in 1951 and currently covers 1638.12 ha, which is about 25% of the Bulgarian territory of the mountain. It has the strictest protection regime according to Bulgaria’s national legislation and corresponds to IUCN category Ia. The article aims to present and analyse the floristic and habitat diversity of the reserve. Altogether 611 species, 287 genera and 72 families of vascular plants are reported for the area. The most species-rich families are Asteraceae, Caryophyllaceae, Poaceae, Fabaceae, Rosaceae. The biological spectrum of the flora, both in respect to biological types and life forms, shows strong prevalence of herbaceous perennials, respectively, hemicryptophytes. The endemism is relatively high – ca. 11.5%. The species of conservation concern are 54 (8.8%) and most of them are xerophytes and heliophytes. List of the vascular plant species recorded in the field or from earlier literature sources is provided. The habitat diversity is represented by 13 habitat types. Woodland vegetation dominates and covers 1330.5 ha in total, whereas grasslands are represented by 4 habitat types and cover 110.7 ha. A map of the habitats is provided.