Vascular plants
There are 897 species of vascular plants in KNP including 76 especially protected ones and 4 especially protected species of limited use. 26 out of 897 species have not been found in the area for the last 30 years.
The habitats that are most rich in protected plant species in KNP are fens, lake and river floodplains and wet decidious forests.
A Latvian rare and protected coastal plant species Atriplex calotheca was found in KNP.
Kemeri NP plays an important role in conservation of a number of vascular plant groups:
• Species for which KNP is one of a few sites in Latvia - Saussurea esthonica‚ Najas marina‚ Zannichellia palustris;
• Species whose distribution range’s edge is in Kemeri NP: W-NW edge of the distributions range – Gladiolus imbricatus‚ Onobrychis arenaria‚ E edge – Euphorbia palustris‚ Myrica gale;
• Species whose protection in Latvia is important because their habitats are endangered due to the increasing intensity of forest logging and recreation – Cypripedium calceolus; Atriplex calotheca;
• Species whose natural habitats are rare in Latvia but plentiful in Kemeri NP (calcareous fens, great fen sedge Cladium mariscus clusters in the lake shoreline, Myrica gale clusters) – Schoenus ferrugineus ‚ common butterwort Pinguicula vulgaris‚ bird's-eye primrose Primula farinosa‚ great fen sedge Cladium mariscus‚ bog myrtle Myrica gale
• Species whose sites in KNP have a special importance - Euphorbia palustris (one of the biggest sites in Latvia ), Zannichellia palustris site in the Lake Sloka – one of the few freshwater sites of the species, Najas marina – one of the largest sites of the species.
Mosses
There are 207 moss species in KNP, including 36 liverworts and 171 mosses. 34 moss species found in KNP are especially protected.
Mosses found in Kemeri NP can be divided into 2 groups – mosses that occur in old-growth natural forests (mainly decidious) and mosses that grow on calcareous soil, most often in calcareous fens and on wet exposed dolomite.
Fungi
There are 586 fungus species found in Kemeri NP including 317 mushroom species (39 of those are rare, but 9 species have only been found in the territory of KNP so far).
A rare subterranean fungus was found in Kemeri NP – edible black trifle (Vimba, Avota 1995).
The habitats suitable for the species are common in KNP and the chances are high that this species still can be found here. Another rare subterranean fungus Elaphomyces levellei (Lawrynowicz‚ 1988) was found in the vicinity of Sloka. Also Entorrhiza aschersoniana, which is a parasite on the roots of Juncus bufonius and is rare in Latvia , was found in KNP. On the driftwood on the Ragaciems beach, 6 fungus species new to Latvia were found. Those are: Ceriosporopsis tubulifera‚ C. halima‚ Corollospora intermedia‚ C. maritima‚ Marinospora calyptrata and Amylocarpus encephaloides (Markovska‚1997).
In sulphur springs, on decaying leaves and needles, 16 freshwater fungi were found for the first time in Latvia (Markovska‚1997).
Lichens
KNP has a high habitat diversity, hence a large number of lichen species found – 148 (Motiejūnaite‚ Piterāns‚ 1993). Particularly valuable are two species - Thelotrema lepadinum and Calicium quercinum that grow in old decidious and mixed forests. Their distribution range is decreasing throughout Europe due to their sensitivity to air pollution and forestry. Another species occurring in Kemeri NP, Chaenotheca cinerea, that grows in old coniferous forests is rare all over its distribution range (Motiejūnaite‚ Piterāns‚ 1998).
Last revision 01-05-2007
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