Phytogeographic importance of Central European sandstone regions

The importance of flora of the Central European sandstone landscapes is based not on the species richness (alpha diversity) but on the specific composition of flora. The flora of a sandstone region is characterized by a pronounced island environment resulting in frequent occurrence of relic species and isolated occurrences of many species. As a result of high habitat diversity, an unusual combination of various phytogeographic elements is specific to sandstone landscapes, such as atlantic/continental, boreomontane/thermophilous etc