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

Adriatic Coastal Dunes

Dunes in this province include red dunes (sometimes call sif-dunes) in the northeast composed of calcareous-ferrugineous sand, and more typical siliceous dunes in the southeast. Only the latter have the more typical zoning of Mediterranean psammophytes. Red dunes, such as those at Zarauk near Baska have fringing orange foredunes dominated by Arundo pliniana and Petasites spurius. Other species include Centaurium erythraea subsp. rhodense, Cichorum pumilum, Elymus elongatus, Equisetum ramossissimum subsp. campanulatum and Juncus littoralis. Moving inland there is a series of ridges separated by dune slacks. Characteristic slack species include Aster liburnicus, Centaurea vinyalsii subsp. approximata, Epipactis palustris, Molinia caerulea and several mosses, but the intervening ridges or crests support an exclusively endemic psammophytic community dominated by the endemic species Edraiathus pichleri (Campanulaceae) and Leucanthemum platylepis (Asteraceae). Other common endemic taxa include Allium visianii (Liliaceae), Alyssum pagense (Brassicaceae), Artemisia biasolettiana (Asteraceae) and Iris marchesettii (Iridaceae). Beyond the ridges a sandy plain of fixed brown dunes may be present. Here the characteristic plants include Bromus condensatus and endemic taxa like Stachys recta subsp. subcrenata (Lamiaceae), but moving further inland this gives way to dune scrub with Vitex agnus-castus and the endemic Tamarix dalmatica (Tamaricaceae). Siliceous dunes in the south, such as those on the Mljet Islands, are typical of other Mediterranean dunes, but also include natural dune pinewoods in their hinterlands. These support a rich flora dominated by Pinus pinea and Myrtus communis subsp. tarentina, while among the many field layer species are endemics such as Lupinus lacromensis (Fabaceae).

References

Alegro, A., Biljakovic, M., Bogdanovic, S. & Borsic, I. 2004. Psammo-halophytic vegetation on the largest sand area on the Croatian coast: the island of Mijet, southern Adriatic. Biologia, Bratislava, 59 (4): 435-445.

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.