Floristic Diversity of Certain Wetlands in Southern Bulgaria

The two-year study on the species composition of higher plants was conducted in three moisture zones in the Maritsa river valley, Bulgaria: “Rice-field Plovdiv”, protected zone (PZ) “Rice-field Tsalapitsa” and protected area (PA) “Martvitsata Zlato Pole“. The analysis was done, using the floristic methods. There were 154 species of vascular plants identified, which belong to 125 genera and 43 families. The highest floristic diversity was found for PA “Martvitsata Zlato Pole“ – 74% of the total number of species found, followed by “Rice-field Plovdiv” (47%) and PZ “Rice-field Tsalapitza” (36%). The families Asteraceae, Poaceae, Fabaceae and Lamiaceae have the largest number of representatives. The total floristic composition of the three tested areas showed the predominance of dicotyledonous taxa. The comparative analysis of the biological types showed the prevalence of the perennial herbaceous plants, followed by the annual plants.