    
FLORA: A COUNTRY OF FORESTS AND MEADOWS
Poland boasts the greatest plant diversity and wealth of forest biocoenoses
in Central Europe. This is mainly due to its lowland location and moderate,
transitory climate.
 Diversity
of plants
The composition of Poland's contemporary flora is a result of climatic
changes and the diffusion of species in the postglacial period. There
are over 2300 species of vascular plants, about 600 mosses, 250 liverworts,
and 1600 lichens.
Since there are no natural barriers in the east and west that might hinder
plant and animal migrations, most vascular plants in Poland are transitory
species. They account for about 60 percent of the entire flora and include
trees such as the common oak, black alder, common elm, European white
elm, white willow and small-leaved lime. Most vascular plants are species
typical of various geographical areas. You can find here Euroasian and
North American plants such as the red bilberry; Arctic and boreal such
as the dwarf birch; Central European such as the fir, beech and many others;
West European such as the heath; Black Sea and Hungarian such as the dwarf
cherry and the yellow blooming spring adonis, common for dry meadows on
limestone. There are few Mediterranean species, though.
For about 40 percent of species, Poland is the limit of occurrence. It
is the northern limit for the broad-leaved lime, European larch and black
poplar; the eastern and north-eastern limit for Atlantic and sub-Atlantic
plants such as the beech, sycamore, field maple, sessile oak and crossed-leaved
heath, characteristic of the Baltic coastland; the southern limit for
the Swedish whitebeam, found only in the belt of coastal lowlands, and
rare northern plants such as the dward birch and Lapland willow. For about
10 percent of species, Poland is the western limit.
Poland has few endemic species, found largely in the Carpathians, where
they include the Poa nobilis and Euphrasia tatrae. Indigenous to the Babia
Gora area is the laserwort (Laserpitium archangelica), found near the
tree line and reaching up to two metres. In the Pieniny you can see the
unique Chrysanthemum zawadzkii. In the Sudetes, only the Karkonosze range
has some endemic violets and saxifrages.
In the rest of the country, there are about 15 endemic species and subspecies
including the Polish larch, black birch and Ojcow birch. Some endemic
species and species found only locally, outside their normal range, are
relicts (survivors from distant epochs). These include the violet larkspur,
Dianthus sylvestris, Saxifraga wahlenbergii, Lapland willow and dwarf
birch. The best known relict species is the beautiful Arolla pine, found
only in the Tatras. The Pontic azalea is an example of a steppe relict.
Carrs that often cover marshlands, valley edges and lake shores are dominated
by the black alder. The undergrowth in shady carrs, taking advantage of
the abundance of water, rise up to several metres. This is also the place
to see the royal fern, Poland's biggest fern. Riverside carrs are rare,
found in the Masurian Lake District and the valleys of the greatest rivers:
the Vistula, Odra and Warta. Unique and scientifically priceless is the
Biebrza marshland, the largest swathe of land in lowland Europe west of
the Bug River, that has survived almost untouched by civilization. The
area abounds in plant species typical of north Europe and relicts from
the Ice Age, including a variety of sedges. The unusual landscape of this
area is shaped by the Biebrza, the only European river that has retained
its natural character for the entire length. Its valley consists of three
marshland basins separated by bottlenecks. Low gradient and a levee produced
by the Narew, which is fed by the Biebrza, make the river flow very slowly.
It meanders and in early spring floods over a several-kilometre-wide area,
sometimes returning to its channel only by late summer. The vast flood
plain is dotted only with sparse knolls, clumps of bushes, trees and haystacks
sticking out of water. The most diversified central basin contains the
Czerwone Bagno (Red Swamp), one of Poland's most extensive transitional
peat swamps, covered with a century-old marshy coniferous forest. At its
edge, the only marshy birch forests in the country stretch. The northern
basin sees smaller floods and is the habitat of many rare plants. In the
southern basin, the Biebrza meanders widely and its flow is the slowest.
Coniferous,
broadleaved and mixed
In the past, Poland's landscape was dominated by vast forests; today
they cover only about 28 percent of the country's territory, usually with
their species composition changed over centuries. The most extensive woodlands
are in the Carpathians, the Sudetes and the lakeland belt. The least wooded
region is central Poland. The old Mazovian forests have survived only
in small patches on barren dunes and marshes.
Originally, Polish woods were dominated by broadleaved species: willows
and poplars in river valleys, alders on swamps, and mixed forests dominated
by oaks, hornbeams and limes in other parts of the country. In some regions
these dry-ground forests may also feature beeches, spruces and sycamores.
This diversity of tree species supports rich wildlife.
Post-war afforestation consisted mainly in planting conifers. Poor, sandy
soils, unsuitable for cereal crops, were afforested with pines which now
cover 57,000 sq km, compared with just 3,300 sq km of beeches and 2,000
sq km of firs. Conifers have low resistance to pollution and, especially
in one-species forests, pests.
Over the last 20 years the total area of Poland's forests has remained
roughly the same. Two positive trends are the increasing share of broadleaved
trees and the growing area of relatively old forests.
Most forests are coniferous, with a predominance of pines (about 70 percent)
and spruces. The pine can grow on various soils and in extremely varied
water conditions. It also has great endurance to weather. It appeared
in this part of Europe after the Ice Age and has survived all climatic
changes; only in the mountains was it surpassed by the spruce, fir and
beech. Pine forests have a characteristic undergrowth with berry bushes,
junipers and a profusion of mosses and lichens. The spruce, which is very
tolerant of harsh climate, may be found chiefly in the mountains and the
north-east where it makes dense forests with the undergrowth often limited
to mosses, ferns and berry bushes.
Coniferous forests account for about 70 percent of Poland's woods. The
largest of them are: the Puszcza Augustowska (Augustow Forest), Puszcza
Piska (Pisz Forest), Puszcza Notecka (Notec Forest), Bory Tucholskie (Tuchola
Forest) and Bory Dolnoslaskie (Lower Silesia Forest). In some areas, patches
of mixed forests have survived. In the lakelands, these are dominated
by the beech, while the larch is the prevailing tree in the mountains.
Better soil supports broadleaved forests, mainly with trees such as oaks
and hornbeams or beeches. A good example of an oak-hornbeam forest can
be found in Bialowieza and Kampinos. In the Swietokrzyskie Mountains you
can see fir-beech forests.
Forests with beeches occur in lower mountains, in the Pomeranian Lake
District, western part of the Masurian Lake District, the Lublin Upland
and in the Bieszczady. The finest beech forests are the Lasy Kadynskie
(Kadyny Forest) near Elblag and the Puszcza Bukowa (Beech Forest) near
Szczecin.
Beech and oak-hornbeam forests look particularly attractive in the spring
when most plants bloom. As they have to produce seeds before the trees
shoot out leaves and obscure the sun, as soon as it becomes warm and sunny,
the forest bottom virtually explodes with life. Colourful anemones, violets
and liverworts all spring up at the same time.
A true gem in west Poland is the Puszcza Piaskowa (Piasek Forest), situated
in the Odra valley near Cedynia and at the western fringes of the Mysliborz
Lake District. Named after the village of Piasek, it is a vestige of the
ancient woods that once stretched along the Odra. More than half of its
trees are broadleaved species including 250-300 years old oaks, with some
of them living up to 350-400 years. What makes its flora unique is also
thermophilous grasses and shrubs.
Poland's
most valuable forest
Poland boasts the last patch of the primeval forest that covered most
European lowlands a thousand years ago. This is the Bialowieza Forest
(Puszcza Bialowieska), straddling the border of Poland and Belarus, on
the Bielska Plain, between the Narewka and Lesna rivers, the latter being
a tributary of the Bug. Its Polish part covers about 580 sq km.
Some 500 years ago Polish kings banned logging and settling in this area
to preserve it as hunting grounds. Although the forest was periodically
exploited in the 19th century and in the inter-war period, it has retained
its character of a primeval lowland forest, which is unique in Europe.
In 1921 the most valuable part of the forest was put under protection
and designated a strict natural reserve. Three years later it was transformed
into a national park, the oldest of the 23 national parks in Poland. It
encompasses about 15 percent of the forest's area. In 1977 the Bialowieza
National Park became a World Biosphere Reserve and two years later it
was recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. It is the only site
in Poland that has entered both lists. In Europe, only one more national
park, Montenegro's Durmitor, is also listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage
Site. For this reason, both parks are regarded as "Yellowstones of Europe".
The Bialowieza National Park has also received the European Diploma, awarded
by the Council of Europe to the continent's outstanding natural sites.
Bialowieza Forest, Fot. G. T. Klosowscy
Source: www.poland.gov.pl
Two-thirds of the most valuable patch of the forest are covered by broadleaved
trees, mainly oaks and hornbeams. Carrs and marshy meadows in wet areas,
flooded for several months a year, are dominated by the black alder and
ash. Pine, spruce and mixed forests stretch on dry grounds. Depending
on the soil, there are altogether as many as about 20 types of forest,
supplemented by marshes, peat bogs and numerous streams.
Species diversity of dry-ground woods attests to the primeval nature
of the Bialowieza forest. The tallest trees are spruces. Below you can
see the crowns of oaks, limes and maples that make up the proper forest
canopy. The lowest trees are ashes. Ancient giants grow side by side with
saplings shooting up between old trunks that fell to the ground and left
them some room and access to the sun's rays. Decaying trees are distinctive
feature of the park. They account for over 10 percent of the entire stand
within the strict reserve. The organic matter produced during their decomposition
is used by the new generations of plants.
For 80 years virtually no work has been conducted in the strictly protected
area. The average age of its trees is 126 years, compared with 72 years
in the rest of the forest and 54 years in Poland. Almost 1600 trees have
reached a size that qualifies them as nature monuments.
The Bialowieza Forest is the southern and western limit for many boreal
plant and animal species, characteristic of the taiga. There are 8500
species of insects, 250 birds, 54 mammals, over 1000 species of vascular
plants, 200 mosses and about 300 lichens. Particularly numerous are the
fungi (some 3000 species), which are largely relicts of the primeval forest
and tend to grow on decaying trees.
Rustling
firs
Apart from the Bialowieza Forest, a few other woods have survived in
the north-eastern part of Poland as remnants of the vast forests that
once extended over the borderlands of medieval Prussia, Lithuania and
Poland. The largest of them, north of Bialowieza, are the Augustow Forest
(Puszcza Augustowska; 1140 sq km), which, through natural restocking,
has become a true wilderness; and the Knyszyn Forest (Puszcza Knyszynska;
839 sq km), with natural pine and pine-spruce stands and peatland vegetation.
Stretching across the Russian border, the Romincka Forest is dominated
by spruces, typical of northern areas. The forest is noted for its clumps
of the protected ostrich ferns. East of Lake Goldap stretches a scenic
raised bog with spruces and alders.
In the Pomeranian Lake District, the most extensive wood is the Tuchola
Forest (Bory Tucholskie; about 1200 sq km). Exploited for centuries, it
has retained little of its original character and is now dominated by
man-introduced pine monocultures. One enclave of primeval vegetation is
the Wierzchlas yew reserve. This concentration of yews, Poland's biggest,
comprises a fragment of the ancient Pomeranian Forest with some four thousand
trees aged up to 400 years. Remnants of the primeval mixed forest are
woods with a predominance of pines interspersed with wild serviceberries
(protected). There are also many glacial relicts including the shrubby
birch and twin flower.
Assemblages of aquatic vegetation are of great value. Lobelia lakes,
extremely rare in Poland and Europe, are named after the water lobelia,
which has white, tiny (up to 1cm) flowers rising above crystal-clean water.
This plant requires clean and soft water with free carbon dioxide. Lobelias
are usually accompanied by other plant species, equally rare in the country.
Only 150 lobelia lakes have survived in Poland, almost all of them situated
in the Pomeranian Lake District.
The Tuchola Forest abounds in assemblages of rare peatland and wetland
vegetation. On the so-called dystrophic lakes (which exist in coniferous
woods with vegetation adapted to acidic waters), peculiar skins of peatmosses
and marsh teas occur, which sag under your feet.
In the Malopolska Upland, larger forest expanses can be found in the
Swietokrzyskie Mountains, where you can relax under the rustling firs
in the magnificent Swietokrzyska Forest, also knows as the Fir Forest
(Puszcza Jodlowa). Natural stands cover about 63 percent of its area.
Diversified geology results in a variety of habitats which support almost
all tree species that occur in Poland: firs, beeches, two oak varieties,
spruces, two lime varieties, yews and pines. Rare plants in the forest
include a number of orchids, the marsh gentian and globe flower. Among
the lush vegetation you can find raspberries, blackberries, large swathes
of impressive ferns and impassable thickets of young firs or beeches.
The Swietokrzyska Forest is the cradle of the Polish yew. Gora Chelmowa
near Nowa Slupia has Poland's largest concentration of this tree, which
lives in its natural state only in this part of the country. The biggest
and oldest yews in this place exceed five metres in circumference.
East of the Malopolska Upland, fine fir-beech stands have survived in
Roztocze, an undulating upland cut by many gorges. Vast wooded stretches
can be found in the Carpathian Depression; the largest of them is the
Sol Forest (Puszcza Solska; 1240 sq km) east of the San valley. Relatively
extensive woods occur in the Silesian Lowland. The biggest of them, and
the biggest in Poland, is the Bory Dolnoslaskie (Lower Silesia Forest;
over 1500 sq km) on sandy alluvial cones of Sudetian rivers. Most of the
forest, however, is made up of pine plantations, with rather limited flora
and fauna.
The West Carpathians are well wooded only in some parts, notably in the
Beskid Slaski, Beskid Zywiecki and Beskid Sadecki. The Bieszczady retains
its thick forest coat. The Sudetian forests were substantially destroyed
at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s. In the Karkonosze
and the Izerskie Mountains, acid rains killed trees over vast areas. The
disaster was caused by a particular pattern of winds which brought air
pollution from nearby brown-coal power plants in Poland, Germany and Czechoslovakia.
Weakened by the rains, the trees fell victim to pests which completed
the work of destruction. Today, attempts are being made to re-create the
natural spruce-fir, beech and spruce forests in the disaster area.
Poland's meadows are predominantly man-made creations that usually replaced
the felled forests. The broad valleys of the Biebrza and Narew, cut by
ice-marginal streams, and the Lubuskie Lake District contain marshland
meadows. Perhaps the most spectacular are the meadows in the Bieszczady
- known as poloniny - and in the Tatras, where they are called hale. In
spring they cover with thousands of blooming crocuses, indigenous to the
Carpathians and brought here from the Balkans by wandering shepherds whose
sheep spread the seeds that got into their wool.
Vegetation
belts
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As you go up above sea level, the climate changes gradually and
so does the plant cover. The highest mountains in Poland, the Tatras,
have as many as five distinct vegetation belts. The most extensive
of them is the lower regiel (up to 1250m) with predominantly man-planted
spruce forests. The upper regiel (up to 1500m) is dominated by spruce
forests that have largely retained their original character. Near
its upper limit you can see the European larch, mountain ash, Silesian
willow, Carpathian birch and - covering steep slopes - spruce cliff
forests. Another characteristic species is the Arolla pine, the
queen of the Tatra forests, distinguished by a widely rounded crown
and dark green needles. Native to the Altai Mountains, it came to
Poland during the Ice Age.
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The Tataras
Photo: www.poland.gov.pl |
Facts
The seeds of the Arolla pine are edible and favoured by many birds, especially
the nutcracker. To save the cones, some of the pines are protected in
August by nets, which puzzles many tourists. Since times immemorial the
highlanders have utilized the wood, resin and seeds of Arolla pines. There
is even a 17th-century recipe for an Arolla seed ointment which was believed
to improve your mental fitness. Oil made from the seeds was a well-known
remedy for a variety of ailments.
Above the upper regiel is the belt of dwarf mountain pines (1500-1800m)
whose dense scrub may be up to three metres high. Their tough, strong
branches fill up the spaces between rocks and trail over stones, their
flexibility making them resistant to avalanches. Dwarf mountain pines
play a major role in protecting the forests by entrapping falling rocks,
slowing down flash floods and preventing erosion. As you go up, the scrub
becomes lower and lower. In the upper parts of this belt, it is less than
a metre high.
In terms of unique nature, the most valuable are the two uppermost zones:
alpine pastures (1800-2250m), known as hale, and rock towers (subnival
zone) which in Poland can be found only in the Tatras. Of the 430 mountain
plants that occur in the country, the Tatras have as many as 400, and
half of this number live mainly in the alpine pastures and the subnival
zone. The latter contains over 100 species of flowering plants including
the pink-blooming catchfly which grows on rocks in moss-like cushions
capable of resisting strong winds. There are also many species of saxifrages,
mosses and rock lichens. The Tatras are noted for a profusion of lichens,
the highest in the country (about 700 species).
The Tatras also have the biggest number of endemic plants in Poland and
a variety of relicts. The best known endemic species are the Saxifraga
wahlenbergii, Cochlearia tatrae, larkspur (with beautiful violet, jug-shaped
flowers), Poa granitica and Poa nobilis. Tens of species are endemic to
the Carpathians.
Similar vegetation belts can be identified in the Karkonosze, the highest
range in the Sudetes. Natural beech and mixed forests of the lower regiel
(500-1000m) have been largely replaced by man-planted spruce monocultures.
The upper regiel (up to 1250m) is a zone of spruce forests with some sycamores
and mountain ashes, their undergrowth made up of heathers and grasses.
In more humid areas you can find luxuriant herbs. Above there is the belt
of dwarf mountain pines (1250-1450m) which occur in the Sudetes only in
the Karkonosze range and the Snieznik Massif (1425m).
The flattened peak areas contain high-mountain peat bogs. The best known
of them stretches below Mt Sniezka (1602m) in the Karkonosze, where dwarf
mountain pines harbour tiny pools with marshland plants which are glacial
relicts typical of the tundra. Around the pools, Lapland willows make
up a dense thicket. Because of its landscape and characteristic flora,
the ridge known as Rownia pod Sniezka is sometimes called the Karkonosze
tundra. The alpine belt (above 1500m) is dominated by rock vegetation:
grasses, mosses and lichens. Generally, the Karkonosze has rather poor
plant cover, for which the granite bedrock is responsible. There are a
few endemic species including Saxifraga moschata subs. basaltica and Sorubs
sudetica as well as glacial relicts such as Saxifraga nivalis and the
semiparasitic Pedicularis sudetica which takes water with mineral salts
from other plants. Outside the Karkonosze, you can see in only in the
Arctic.
The Bieszczady has a peculiar arrangement of vegetation. The range's
distinctive feature is a low tree line (1200-1220m above sea level) and
lack of the upper forest zone with spruces. The limit is marked only by
dwarf beeches and alders which give way to pastures know as poloniny,
the biggest attraction of the Bieszczady. These reach up to 1346m, which
is the height of the highest mount, Tarnica. The meadows are covered with
bilberry bushes and grasses. Only there can you find over 20 rare East
Carpathian species such as the Silene dubia and Melampyrum saxosum, as
well as over 70 high-mountain species.
The Bieszczady is one of the few places in Europe where nature has regained
terrains once colonized by man. After the war almost all native residents
were deported for political reasons and their mountainside fields and
meadows are now replaced by a dense beech forest which retains the natural
character of beech woods.
Source: www.poland.gov.pl
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