The usable taxons in spontaneous flora of railway areas of the central-eastern part of Poland

Abstract

A wide range of ecological conditions on anthropogenic sites makes it easy for different usable species to infiltrate and spread there. The data were collected since 1998. The spontaneous flora of railway areas of the central-eastern part of Poland is composed of already recorded 950 vascular plants, of which 373 are recognized as usable, including 78 dye plants, 162 medicinal, 324 nectariferous or polleniferous taxons. The majority of taxons are distributed in disperse (128 species - 34%) or occur rarely (96 species - 26%). The common or frequent species constitute 40% of usable flora of the studied area. Medicinal and melliferous plants occur most frequently on slopes of trenches and railway embankments in nearly natural habitats. They mostly grow as single individuals or form loose and rarely dense patches. The analysis of their geographical status confirms the ultimate prevalence of apophytes over anthropophytes. Considering syntaxonomic structure, there are mainly species typical for phytoceonoses from Molinio-Arrhenatheretea, Artemisietea vulgaris, Stellarietea mediae, Festuco-Brometea, Querco-Fagetea classes.