Phytosociological analysis of noble hardwood forests (Ostryo-Tilienion platyphylli) in the Karst and its neighbouring regions (SW Slovenia)

Abstract In SW Slovenia, at Gora under Železna Vrata and Petnik gorge near Branik – both on the northern edge of the Karst, in the collapse doline Orleška Draga at Sežana and under Brkinski Rob at the contact of the Karst and Brkini Hills, we conducted a phytosociological analysis of the stands whose tree layer is dominated by Tilia platyphyllos, T. cordata, Acer pseudoplatanus, Ulmus glabra, in places also Carpinus betulus and Ostrya carpinifolia, and classified them into three associations, Corydalido ochroleucae-Aceretum pseudoplatani, Paeonio officinalis-Tilietum platyphylli and Fraxino orni-Aceretum pseudoplatani. The latter was described as a new. Also new is a secondary large-leaved lime association Lamio orvalae-Tilietum platyphylli on the sites of montane beech forests (Lamio orvalae-Fagetum) in the Čepovan valley, at the contact of the Dinaric and sub-Mediterranean phytogeographical regions of Slovenia.