AN INVENTORY OF FLORISTIC COMPOSITION IN PERMANENT GRASSLANDS OF RUCĂR-BRAN CORRIDOR: APPLICATION AND PERSPECTIVES OF MELLIFEROUS POTENTIAL

The paper presents the melliferous and landscaping inventories in the Rucăr-Bran Corridor to assess the corresponding non-pastoral utilization values for complementary valorization of grassland herbaceous canopies. The space occupied by permanent grasslands in the study area is home to 235 species of plants, which shows an increased biodiversity. The inventories showed that 36 species were grasses, 29 species were legumes, 12 species were sedges and bulrushes, and 158 species were from other botanical families. A number of 72 melliferous species was identified, most of them having also forage utilization. GIS analysis showed that the total area occupied by permanent grasslands in Rucăr-Bran Corridor and neighboring landforms based on Corine data is 5007.6 ha. Consequently, the honey production potential was evaluated between 5 and 10 t of honey. Depending on the number of species that form the heterogeneous canopy and their color of flowers, the ordering of dominant colors and tones was as follows: yellow (24.3%), green (21.3%), white (17.3%), red (14%), pink (8.1%), purple (7.2%), blue (6.4%), and brown (1.3%)