Flora
of Lesvos
Lesbos, the largest, in terms of
size, island in the East Aegean and third largest in
Greece, soon became a pole of attraction for
botanists, walkers, and scientists. The first
reference to the island’s flora was made by Joseph
Pitton de Tournefort (1703) and J. Dumont d’Urville
(1822). The most important researchers of the
island’s flora during the last century were the
doctor Constantinos A. Kanartzis, who presented his
findings in his essay “Flore de l’ile de Lesbos,
Plantes Sauvages et cultivees” (1889) and his son
Palaiologos C. Cantartzis. The latter wrote his
thesis on the topic of “La Vegetation de l’
l’ile de Lesbos” at the University of Sorbonne
(1899), while he made a significant contribution to
the broadening of knowledge of the island’s flora
when he published his findings in a french Scientific
Journal (1897 – 1898). It is worth mentioning that
he described approximately 60 new species (unknown
until then). However very few are accepted today. M.
De Boissieu also made a minor contribution during the
past century (1896). A great deal of new information
is provided by the great Austrian botanist Karl Heinz
Rechinger in his essay, Flora Aegea (1943). Werner
Rauh (1949), who succeeded Rechinger, focused his
research on the island’s vegetation rather than its
flora. More recent references are made by Peter H.
Davis (Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands,
1965 – 1985), K.A. Zachariadis (1977), John R.
Edmondson (1982), Peter Golz and Hans Reinhard (1981,
1989), Alfred Hansen (1986), Alfred Hansen &
Henry Nielsen (1993), Artemis Giannitsaro and Eva
Economidou (1974, 1975), Artemis Giannitsaro (1977,
1979, 1982, 1992) and Giannis Bazo & Artemis
Giannitsaro (1992, 1993, 1994).
It is estimated that the flora of
Lesbos consists of 1400-1500 plant taxa. Its richness
is greatly due to the variety of biotopes on the
island, the particularity of its rock formations, the
long-term effect of man’s activity on nature, its
proximity to Asia Minor as well as the recent, from a
geological point of view, detachment of the East
Aegean from the coasts of Minor Asia.
Alyssum lesbiacum is perhaps the
only endemic species of the island. However some
plants of the East such as Rhododendron luteum and
Haplophyllum megalanthum are only found on Lesbos,
while others are found very rarely and dispersed all
over Greece, e.g. Osmunda regalis, Datisca cannabina,
Comperia comperiana, Dianthus anatolicus, Elatine
alsinastrum, Corydalis integra, Ranunculus isthmicus,
Silene urvillei and others.
In recent years a large number of
dangers pose a serious threat to the rich flora of
Lesbos, the most important of which are: road
construction, building, negative impact of tourism
development, exsiccation and transformation of land
into building sites (mainly in the Kalloni and
Larsou-Dipi area), transformation of mountain tops
into “forests” of all sorts of aerials (an object
lesson of how to ruin a beautiful scenery would be
Prophetis Ilias of Agiasos), fires and over-grazing
in certain areas. For the above reasons, it is urgent
more than ever before, that measures be taken to
protect the wildlife of Lesbos. Its wildlife not only
a wealth-producing resource – if we consider the
number of visitors who come to the island every year
to walk along its paths in the hope of locating and
getting a close-up view of the rare plants and
animals of Lesbos – but also part of the natural
heritage and pride of the whole of Greece.
… a sample of the flowers of Lesbos
