Article

The Great Caucasus is well known for its impressive plant cover. Uneven topography, rich geology, pronounced climatic gradients, and position between Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean have contributed to biological diversity of this biodiversity hotspot. The mountain chain covers a pronounced west to east climatic gradient with its western part being more humid and eastern more continental. The paper shows how vegetation follows the climatic gradient and how local orographic environment allows meso-/xerophillous plant communities break in places the general west to east humid to continental pattern through regions located along the gradient. Special emphasis is made on ‘small refugia’ of mesophillous Tertiary relict flora still preserved in some gorges of the eastern Great Caucasus.