Bakalin, V.A. Caucasian-Manchurian relationships in the hepatic flora

Arctoa (2014) 23: 150-163

doi: 10.15298/arctoa.23.13

The Caucasian-Manchurian relationships in the hepatic floras are analyzed with the purpose to test for similarities and differences between both floras. Similarities proved to be quite few. The Manchurian hepatic flora includes relatively more southern elements in comparison with the Caucasian one. A higher proportion of subtropical elements in Manchuria is explained tentatively by continuous floristic contacts of Manchuria with southwardly adjacent subtropical and tropical mesophytic complexes which are absent southward of the Caucasus. For few pairs of vicarious temperate taxa, distribution gaps are revealed between the Caucasus and Manchuria. This fact may be explained by the evolution of ancestor taxa in the course of geographic isolation of Manchurian and Caucasian populations since Pleistocene.