Floristic Characteristics of Kobilica Ridge, Šar Planina Mt.

Kobilica is a ridge of the Šar Mountains located in the far south of Serbia over which the international border with FYR Macedonia stretches. Numerous factors - being located in the central Balkan area, refugial character, diverse environmental conditions and habitat types, have caused the high level of floristic diversity in the Šar Mountains area, and therefore Kobilica. The vegetation is characterized primarily by acidophilic grasslands (alpine, subalpine and Oro-Moesian), shrub habitats (arctic, alpine and subalpine) and low open shrub-grass calciophilic formations (alpine and subalpine, Illyrian-West Moesian and Moesian-North Scardo-Pindic). The basic phytogeographic and ecological analysis included 955 taxa which were recorded in the area of Kobilica between 2002 and 2008 (663 newly discovered and 292 confirmed taxa from findings in literature). The presented list of flora relates to 907 species for which there are herbarium specimens deposited in two Herbariums (Herbarium of the Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden 'Jevremovac', University of Belgrade - BEOU and Herbarium of the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia - INCS).