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The highest parts of the European mountain massifs are covered by subalpine and alpine vegetation, with rich flora containing many relic woody plants adapted to cold temperatures and relatively short vegetation periods. In the Ukrainian Carpathians, only several highest mountain massifs form environmental conditions suitable for high mountain plants. The aim of the study was the detection of the centre of biodiversity of the high mountain plants in the East Carpathians in Ukraine. We expected the largest number of high mountain woody species in the Ukrainian East Carpathians would occur in the Chornohora, the largest and most elevated mountain chain in the country. To solve this problem, the geographic distribution of 16 woody species was analysed cartographically. We gathered georeferenced data of 919 localities of taxa, which occur in the subalpine and alpine vegetation belts, and prepared maps of their distribution using QGIS software. Additionally, we analysed vertical distribution and occurrence on different expositions of every taxon. Most of analysed subalpine and alpine species occur in the highest and the largest mountain massifs. The high mountain woody species occur in the Ukrainian parts of the East Carpathians mainly in the largest mountain massifs, the Chornohora, Svydovets, Chyvchyny, Marmarosh, and to a lesser extent, also in the Gorgany. The vertical distribution and predominant occurrence on the northern or close to northern expositions of most subalpine and alpine species indicate their demands for the relatively high level of humidity of the soil and high level of precipitation. These condition point to the relic character of most of analysed species, which origin from the glacial periods of the Pleistocene. Most of the taxa, which have centres of their distribution in the alpine and sub-alpine vegetation belts of the East Carpathians in the Ukraine territory are valuable but threatened elements of the Ukrainian flora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dryas octopetala is an important arctic alpine species, but its morphological analyses are scarce. The study deals with present European biogeographical structure based on morphology and its relations to the phylogenetic structure and the climate. Characters of leaves from 23 isolated populations were measured, statistically characterized and analyzed with the use of ANOVA and the discriminant analysis. All the features differentiated the tested samples significantly. Differences between plants representing regions were greater than between the samples within regions with regard to the four characters. The most visible division ran between the samples coming from the southern and the northern parts of the range, with the sample from the Western Scandinavia occupying the central position. Correlations between characters and climactic factors were shown, and the size of the leaf was associated mainly with the minimum temperatures of spring months, while the leaf shape with the rainfall during the summer months. Characters differentiating the regions and discriminating populations strongly were mostly dependent on the influence of the climate. The results of the present study were not fully consistent with the outcomes of the biogeographic molecular analyses of the researched species. Some parallels can be drawn when comparing the present analyses with the geographic differentiation of two other arctic-alpine shrubs Salix herbacea and S. reticulata. Although morphological diversity of Dryas octopetala showed a geographic structure, it was most probably shaped mainly by the influence of the environmental and climatic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]