Effect of alien plant species on flora dynamics in the main botanical garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Abstract

The flora of the Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow) was analyzed. It included 856 species from 407 genera, belonging to 95 families of vascular plants. The dynamics of the local flora within a significantly long period was analyzed for the first time. It was revealed that within a 65-year-long period, the local flora increased by 1.8 times: 62 wild species, 284 escapees from cultivation, and 36 alien weeds were added. For certain, Adenocaulon adhaerescens escaped from the Botanical Garden, and probably Geum macrophyllum did so. The taxonomic classification, life form, type of range, and invasive status of the species of the alien flora fraction were analyzed.