Article

Mount Limbara is located in the north-eastern part of Sardinia (Italy). It is the third highest peak of the island and covers an area of 262.47 km². In the past, the studies concerning the flora of this mountain interested only restricted sectors or specific taxa, but a comprehensive floristic study of the whole territory was lacking. An annotated flora of the vascular flora growing in this area is here presented, based on field surveys carried out from 1993 to 2020, on the analysis of literature and on a review of specimens from five herbaria. The flora of Mount Limbara amounts to 1,147 taxa grouped in 46 orders, 120 families and 486 genera. The endemic and subendemic taxa are 86, while the alien flora consists of 137 taxa. The number of alien taxa is mostly related to human introduction. Among the taxa recorded in the past, 69 are here excluded and considered doubtful while 41 taxa are not confirmed. We compared the flora of Mount Limbara with that of other Sardinian mountains, highlighting the importance of this area, which appears to have the richest mountain flora of Sardinia, but also of the non-native flora. Finally, 132 taxa included in the Italian lists of threatened plants grow in the massif, thus adding conservation value to the study area.