Article

The serpentine vegetation of Sandras Dağı revisited. Phytosociological studies on high-mountain plant communities of the South Anatolian Taurus Mountains, 4. - The present paper deals with the high-mountain vegetation of Sandras Dağı, a fairly isolated main range in the SW Anatolian Taurus, Turkey, which is largely composed of peridotite rock and stands out for its rich endemic flora. Critically reviewing the phytosociological accounts on this topic, it proposes a classification scheme for the serpentinophytic vegetation in a wider sense. Three associations are described as new to science. While the Muscari sandrasici-Polygonetum karacae (meltwater and snow-bed community) fits in spite of its many local serpentinophytes into the Thlaspion papillosi alliance (Trifolio-Polygonetalia), the zonal mesophytic to xerophytic vegetation could hitherto not be classified satisfactorily. As a solution, the serpentinophytic Thuryion capitatae (Astragalo-Brometalia) of the Cilician Taurus is expanded in geographical and diagnostic respects, to accommodate also the stands as far West as Sandras Dağı. Here, they can be grouped into a Genistetum sandrasicae and an Odontarrheno masmenaeae-Ebenetum pisidicae. All communities are characterised by means of life form spectra, chorotype spectra and dispersal biological spectra. The only two available serpentinophytic Astragalo-Brometalia syntaxa from Turkey, including the name Thuryion capitatae, are validated. In addition, two suballiances are suggested that consider the floristic contrast between the western and eastern parts of the Taurus range.