The flora

Flora

Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...

 of Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 is the richest in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. Traditionally it was estimated to comprise about 5,500 vascular plant

Vascular plant

Vascular plants are those plants that have lignified tissues for conducting water, minerals, and photosynthetic products through the plant. Vascular plants include the clubmosses, Equisetum, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms...

 species. However, as of 2004, 6,759 species are recorded in the Data bank of Italian vascular flora. About 700 of them are endemic to the country. Geobotanically, the Italian flora is shared between the Circumboreal Region

Circumboreal Region

The Circumboreal Region is a floristic region within the Holarctic Kingdom in Eurasia and North America, as delineated by such geobotanists as Josias Braun-Blanquet and Armen Takhtajan....

 and Mediterranean Region. According to the index compiled by the Italian Ministry for the Environment in 2001, 274 vascular plant species are protected.

Notable floras

• Arcangeli, Giovanni
  Giovanni Arcangeli
  Giovanni Arcangeli was an Italian botanist from Florence.In 1862 he earned his degree in natural sciences from the University of Pisa, where he later became an instructor and professor...
  
  . Compendio della flora italiana. Torino: Loescher, 1882.
• Cesati, Vincenzo de
  Vincenzo de Cesati
  Vincenzo de Cesati was an Italian botanist who was a native of Milan.He studied natural history and law at the University of Vienna, and afterwards worked as a volunteer at the Collegium Nacionale de Vercelli. From 1868 to 1883 he was director of the botanical garden at Naples...
  
  , Giovanni Passerini
  Giovanni Passerini
  Giovanni Passerini was an Italian botanist and entomologist , born on June 16, 1816 or 1819 in Pieve di Guastalla. He died on April 17 , 1893 in Parma ....
  
   & Giuseppe Gibelli
  Giuseppe Gibelli
  Giuseppe Gibelli was an Italian botanist and lichenologist who was a native of Santa Cristina e Bissone....
  
  . Compendio della flora italiana. Vol. 1-35. Milano: Vallardi, 1868-1886.
• Fiori, Adriano. Nuova flora analitica d'Italia. Vol. 1-2. Firenze: Ricci, 1923-1929.
• Parlatore, Filippo
  Filippo Parlatore
  Filippo Parlatore was an Italian botanist.Italian botanist, b. at Palermo, 8 Aug., 1816; d. at Florence, 9 Sept., 1877, a devout and faithful Catholic. He studied medicine at Palermo, but practiced only for a short time, his chief activity being during the cholera epidemic of 1837...
  
  & Teodoro Caruel. Flora italiana. Vol. 1-10. Firenze: Le Monnier, 1848-1896.
• Pignatti, Sandro. Flora d'Italia. Vol. 1-3. Bologna: Edagricole, 1982. ISBN 8850624492.

External links

• Acta Plantarum Checklist. Extensive photo gallery
• Flora Italiana