Article

It is well known that the life form of a geophyte is admirably adapted for dwelling in arid and semi-arid habitats and that the ephemeral occurrence or temporal use of ecological niches in such habitats is a specific survival strategy to avoid unfavorable conditions such as drought and competition. The extremely rich endemic flora of the Balkan Peninsula is represented by several life forms and it is estimated that geophytes account for at least 10% of this flora. The majority of taxa (numbers in parentheses) belongs to the Monocot families Liliaceae (incl. Alliaceae, 124), Iridaceae (28), Orchidaceae (still unknown), Amaryllidaceae (5) and Araceae (8) which have all members geophytic. One of the most important centres of a geophytic flora is the Mediterranean region including the adjacent mountainous areas. The Balkan Peninsula is a significant centre of diversity for endemic geophytes both in terms of origin and speciation. The distribution of c. 175 endemic geophytic Monocots (excl. Orchidaceae, Gramineae & Cyperaceae) in the Balkans was mapped using 50x50 km UTM squares. The data permitted correlations of distribution with several interesting topics such as morphology, phenology, altitudinal range, island isolation and centres of diversity