Checklist of the Orchidaceae of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

The Balkan Peninsula is recognized as an important center of orchid diversity in Europe. However, the orchid flora of the central Balkans has not been sufficiently studied. This paper presents the first checklist of orchids in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Checking and revision of herbarium material, personal field investigations, and published sources were used to complete the present survey of extant orchid taxa. Categorization of the records of orchid species and subspecies ac cording to the degree of their reliability was performed in detail. With allowance for recent taxonomic and nomenclatural changes, it can now be asserted that a total of 76 orchid species and subspecies and two hybrids belonging to 22 genera are reported for the country. The most species-rich genera are Orchis (12 taxa), Dactylorhiza (10), Anacamptis (8), Epipac tis (7) and Ophrys (7). A peculiarity of the orchid flora of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the presence of two Balkan endemics: Dactylorhiza cordigera subsp. bosniaca (Beck) Soó and Himantoglossum calcaratum (Beck) Schltr. subsp. calcaratum. Due to the great diversity of topography, climatic conditions, soil characteristics, and vegetation, it is assumed that the number of orchid taxa in Bosnia and Herzegovina is higher, and it is expected that new taxa will be recorded over time.