Analysis of the flora of the Alps. 1: historical account and biodiversity

AESCHIMANN, D., N. RASOLOFO & J.-P. THEURILLAT (2011). Analysis of the flora of the Alps. 1: historical account and biodiversity. Candollea 66: 27-55. In French, English and French abstracts. First in a series, this paper statistically analyzes some of the data published in Flora alpina, i.e. that relating to the nomenclature and to the chorology in the Alps. An historical account of the knowledge of vascular plants recorded in the Alps is given: numbers of described taxa and new combinations made over time (two periods highlighted), principal authors and books. Biodiversity is characterized: number of taxa per taxonomic category, country, geographic sector and administrative division. The average taxonomic richness of the Alps is estimated at about 2200 taxa per 10,000 km(2) and a map shows the values calculated for each region. Endemism is also evaluated: by family, genus, country, sector, regrouping of sectors, division and the regrouping of divisions. The southern end of the western Alps and the south-western part of the eastern Alps are confirmed as the Alpine regions where the density of endemics and taxonomic richness are the highest.