Included here is virtually all of the coastal zones surrounding the Adriatic Sea, most of which has a Mediterranean climate.

Adriatic Karstic Rock Fields

These occur sporadically along the entire eastern coast of the Adriatic on flat calcareous coastlands and adjacent skerry islands. In the northeast, such as the Senj archipelago, the dominant vegetation comprises a kind of semi-woody phrygana up to 70 cm in height. The characteristic species include Artemisia alba, Asphodelus aestivus, Camphorosma monspeliaca, Colchicum kochii, Helichrysum italicum, Teucrium capitatum and the endemic or near endemic Centaurea hutteri (Asteraceae), Dianthus ciliatus (Caryophyllaceae) and Festuca lapidosa (Poaceae). However, on some of the offshore skerries where seabird ’guana’ has accumulated a nitrohalophytic grassland has developed with endemic taxa such as Carduus nutans subsp. micropterus (Asteraceae) and Euphorbia eufragifera (Euphorbiaceae). Further south in Dalmatia, a summer-deciduous scrub up to 2 m tall dominates karstic rock fields. Artemisia arborescens and Obione graeca dominated the canopy, together with various other species such as the endemic Convolvulus tartonaira (Convolvulaceae), while the under story is dominated by endemics like Centaurea fridericii (Asteraceae), Muscari speciosum (Liliaceae) and Ornithogalum visianicum (Liliaceae). Moving even further south to the Efafiti archipelago near Dubrovnik the vegetation includes a summer-deciduous pulvinate thorn scrub of Calycotome villosa and Erica manipuliflora. Other species here include Coronilla valentina and the endemic Crocus dalmaticus (Iridaceae).

References

Forenbacher, S. 2001. Velebit Range – Treasure of Croatian Flora. Croatian Medical Journal, 42: 111-112.

Horvat, I, Glavac, V & Ellenberg, H. 1974. Vegetation of Southeast Europe. Gustav Fischer Verlag. Stuttgart.

Lovric, A. Z. 1997. Dry coastal ecosystems of Croatia and Yugoslavia. In: Ecosystems of the World 2C  Dry Coastal Ecosystems  - Polar Regions and Europe. Ed. Eddy van der Marel. Elsevier.

Milovic, M. 2002. The flora of Sibenik and its surroundings. Natura Croatica, 11: 171-223.

Rac, M. & Lovric, A. Z. 2002. Benthic and xeric vegetation of remote islands Susac and Kopisce and of the adjacent seafloors in southern Adriatic. Periodicum Biologorum, 104: 139-147.