| Abstract: | The florae of Central European cities and towns differ largely from the flora of the hinterland. Characteristics of the urban flora (in comparison to that of the hinterland) are: a remarkable decrease in the percentage of indigenous and archeophytic species, in particular of those that have a narrow ecological amplitude and/or are strictly bound to oligotrophic habitats; an increase in the population of a small group of indigenous species resulting from a change from natural to synanthropic habitats (apophytisation, synanthropisation); an immigration of alien species (neophytes), in particular to disturbed habitats; and the development of new ecotypes. The origin and development of the typical features of the Central European urban flora can be divided into four distinctive periods: the time up until the end of the 15th century, the time from the 16th century to the beginning of the industrial age, the industrial age, the post-industrial age. |
