Summary: The basis of the primary plant cover of Republic Croatia is made up of the forest vegetation which in terms of the plantgeography belongs to two large forest regions - Mediterranean vegetational region and the Eurosiberian-Northamerican forest region and to its European subregion. The boundary between the said regions passes over the coastal slope of the Dinaric Alps and is on the contact between the thermophilous oak and beech forests.Due to the developed orography, the forest vegetation is differentiated into vertical vegetational belts and horizontal vegetational zones. The Mediterranean region is divided into the Mediterranean-littoral and Mediterranean-montane vegetational belts. The Eurosiberian-Northamerican region and within it the European subregion is divided into the European-planar, European-collin, European-montane, European-altimontane, European-alpine and European-adalpine vegetational belts. As a rule, for each vegetational belt one particular woody species is characteristic as its basic forest vegetation edificator (Pinus halepensis, Quercus ilex, Q. pubescen, Q. virgiliana, Q. robur, Q. petraea, Fagus sylvatica, Abies alba, Picea abies, Pinus mugo). Depending upon the lithological stratum, within every such unit the carbonate and silicate series can be distinguished. The forest vegetation of the carbonate series shows more or less endemic Adriatic or Illyrian character and that of the silicate series the central European boreal character. For each series within one vegetational belt or zone there is usually one characteristical and according to its distribution dominating forest association.
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