THE FLORA AND VEGETATION OF GROUNDS OF TALLINN

SUMMARY

City flora, garden flora, native flora, immigrant plants, alien species.

In 1997–1999, the flora of 109 sites was studied in Tallinn (Table 1). The study area covered 21.5 hectares; it is 0,15% of territory of Tallinn. Investigated grounds are in different parts of Tallinn, in different ecological, historical and social conditions. There have found 1001 species of vascular plants, of them 399 natural species (incl. immigrant species) and 602 introduced species (Table 2). In list of vascular plants of Tallinn have registered 1283 taxa of natural and immigrant plants (Kukk, 1991). Without causal immigrants, microspecies and evidently erroneous finds are in flora of Tallinn 906 natural species. Could be concluding that most of native species of Tallinn can not grow on ground areas.

The most widespread species (table 7) in Tallinn are Poa pratensis and Plantago major (both on 95% of grounds), Poa annua and Trifolium repens. The most common trees and shrubs are Malus domestica (76%), Ribes uva-crispa, Syringa vulgaris and Acer platanoides. The most common decorative herbs are Paeonia lactiflora (65%), Bellis perennis and Calendula officinalis. The most common food herbs are Anethum graveolens (58%), Fragaria ×ananassa, Rheum rhaponticum and Allium sativum. By the estimated coverage the most common species in Tallinn are Poa pratensis (12% of herb layer), Stellaria media, Lolium perenne and Poa trivialis (Table 11).

Importance of foreign species is great in the list of flora. (Fig.1) By the evaluated coverage of species alien cultivated herbs have only 13% of total coverage of Tallinn grounds herb layer, most of it have naturalised Lolium perenne (8.5% of total coverage) (Fig.2). Also native herb species are more frequent than cultivated species in mean (Table 3). The same rate of distribution can be conclude about native and introduced trees (tab. 4). But among the shrubs only introduced species are common (Table 5). In evaluation of vegetation is important number of annuals. Most of natural urban annuals are apophytes; they are growing in not stabile communities. Cultivated annuals are also not ecologically good, because the existence of these species is very strongly disposed by mode of horticulture and alternate very rapidly.

The richest grounds of Tallinn (Table 6) situate in old park-town Nõmme (mean 139 sp.) and in new garden-suburb Muuga (mean 141 sp.); the poorest are grounds of various old suburbs (mean 60 sp.). The most unique and characteristic species of parts of Tallinn are in Table 8. Introduction age of Tallinn cultivated species also have analysed (Table 10).

The most widespread species in Tallinn

l – native perennials la – native annuals lv – native Estonian species previously in cultivation, also naturalized in city a – alien trees and shrubs b – native trees and shrubs v – alien perennials va – alien annuals vl – naturalized alien perennials			Tallinn, total	Nõmme (old park-garden suburb)		Muuga (new summer-garden-suburb		typical garden-suburbs		old suburbs
Total number of investigated gardens: 109 antr – antropophyte apo – apophyte			number	number	% of local grounds	number	% of local grounds	number	% of local grounds	number	% of local grounds
Plantago major L.	l	antr	104	38	100	19	100	14	78	27	96
Poa pratensis L.	l	apo	104	35	92	19	100	18	100	27	96
Poa annua L.	la	antr	101	34	89	17	89	18	100	27	96
Trifolium repens L.	l	apo	95	36	95	18	95	16	89	20	71
Poa trivialis L.	l	apo	93	30	79	19	100	17	94	25	89
Taraxacum officinale F.H.Wigg.	l	apo	92	31	82	18	95	13	72	24	86
Stellaria media (L.) Vill.	la	apo	91	34	89	11	58	14	78	27	96
Aegopodium podagraria L.	l	apo	91	32	84	16	84	12	67	25	89
Chenopodium album L.	la	apo	90	36	95	17	89	15	83	16	57
Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medil.	la	antr	89	34	89	13	68	13	72	23	82
Ranunculus repens L.	l	apo	89	31	82	18	95	16	89	20	71
Epilobium montanum L.	l	apo	81	34	89	16	84	13	72	17	61
Dactylis glomerata L.	l	apo	81	34	89	12	63	8	44	21	75
Elymus repens (L.) Gould	l	apo	80	29	76	13	68	16	89	17	61
Impatiens parviflora DC.	la	antr	77	35	92	9	47	13	72	18	64
Lamium album L.	l	antr	76	28	74	7	37	12	67	24	86
Festuca rubra L.	l	apo	76	33	87	16	84	9	50	13	46
Polygonum arenastrum Boreau	la	apo	73	29	76	9	47	10	56	20	71
Epilobium adenocaulon Haussln.	l	apo	71	20	53	18	95	15	83	16	57
Lamium purpureum L.	la	antr	70	27	71	19	100	16	89	7	25
Potentilla anserina L.	l	apo	69	19	50	15	79	11	61	18	64
Glechoma hederacea L.	l	apo	67	29	76	14	74	15	83	7	25
Geum urbanum L.	l	apo	66	30	79	5	26	5	28	23	82
Veronica serpyllifolia L.	l	antr	62	28	74	18	95	12	67	3	11
Chelidonium majus L.	l	antr	62	32	84	9	47	10	56	10	36
Veronica chamaedrys L.	l	apo	57	33	87	14	74	7	39	2	7
Sisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop.	la	antr	56	20	53	1	5	7	39	23	82
Malus domestica Borlh.	b		83	27	71	18	95	18	100	16	57
Ribes uva-crispa L. (s.str.)	a		79	30	79	18	95	17	94	13	46
Syringa vulgaris L.	a		73	28	74	11	58	8	44	23	82
Acer platanoides L.	b		70	27	71	5	26	7	39	26	93
Rubus idaeus L.	b		68	24	63	17	89	14	78	12	43
Ribes rubrum L.	a		66	26	68	18	95	16	89	6	21
Ribes nigrum L.	b		65	22	58	19	100	16	89	8	29
Prunus domestica L.	a		65	19	50	18	95	16	89	12	43
Rosa indica hybrida hort.	a		52	18	47	18	95	11	61	5	18
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (L.) Planch.	a		52	22	58	14	74	4	22	9	32
Betula pubescens Ehrh.	b		51	22	58	10	53	6	33	9	32
Pinus sylvestris L.	b		40	36	95	0		0		0
Convallaria majalis L.	lv		75	29	76	12	63	10	56	20	71
Paeonia lactiflora Pall.	v		71	28	74	17	89	16	89	9	32
Anethum graveolens L.	va		63	23	61	18	95	16	89	4	14
Bellis perennis L.	vl		63	23	61	16	84	16	89	6	21
Calendula officinalis L.	va		60	23	61	15	79	14	78	6	21
Fragaria ×ananassa Duchesne	v		56	19	50	18	95	13	72	6	21
Lolium perenne L.	vl		56	22	58	11	58	6	33	13	46
Primula x pruchoniciana hort.	v		54	27	71	14	74	9	50	4	14
Rheum rhaponticum L.	v		53	20	53	17	89	12	67	4	14
Myosotis sylvatica Hoffm.	vl		53	24	63	5	26	7	39	17	61
Iris germanica L.	v		51	22	58	14	74	8	44	4	14
Allium schoenoprasum L.	lv		50	20	53	15	79	10	56	4	14
Matteuccia struthiopteris (L.) Tod.	lv		50	22	58	12	63	8	44	6	21
Allium sativum L.	v		50	18	47	18	95	12	67	2	7
Phlox paniculata L.	v		50	20	53	11	58	10	56	7	25
Bergenia crassifolia (L.) Fritsch	v		43	22	58	8	42	7	39	4	14
Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.	va		42	12	32	17	89	11	61	1	4
Armoracia rusticana P.Gaertn., B.Mey. & Scherb.	v		41	13	34	10	53	12	67	5	18
Allium cepa L.	v		40	7	18	17	89	12	67	3	11
Primula elatior (L.) Hill	v		38	18	47	5	26	13	72	2	7
Petroselinum crispum (Mill.) A.W.Hill	va		37	12	32	15	79	9	50	1	4
Cucumis sativus L.	va		36	9	24	16	84	10	56	1	4
Lilium bulbiferum L.	v		35	10	26	4	21	10	56	9	32
Hesperis matronalis L.	vl		35	16	42	5	26	6	33	8	29
Saponaria officinalis L.	vl		28	14	37	2	11	2	11	8	29
Primula vulgaris Huds.	v		22	6	16	4	21	2	11	8	29

Figure 1. Importance of species groups in grounds flora (by number of species)

Figure 2. Importance of species groups in evaluated coverage of herbal layer

Back