Abstract

Introduction. White-birch swamps in the basin of lower Sula differ by the highest edaphic trophicity among those known from literature and discovered in original researches on similar associations. Methods. The analysis is based on 24 geobotanical descriptions. Results. The swamps have been singled out as a new association Urtico galeopsifoliae-Betuletum pubescentis, comprising two sub-associations and representing a type of a new union Urtico galeopsifoliae-Betulion pubescentis. It is remarkable for its high-rate stability and projective covering of megatrophic and nitrophylic species (Sambucus nigra, Swida sanguinea, Ribes nigrum, Humulus lupulus, Urtica galeopsifolia, Impatiens noli-tangere, Galium aparine, Thelypteris palustris, Symphytum officinale, Myosoton aquaticum, Carex riparia, Poa palustris) as well as for the absence of species that are common for mesoeutrophyc white-birch swamps (Salix cinerea, S. pentandra, S. repens s.l., Betula humilis, Molinia caerulea, Deschampsia caespitosa, Calamagrostis canescens, Poa trivialis, Festuca rubra, Carex lasiocarpa, C. nigra, Comarum palustre та ін.). Conclusion. The new union has been attributed to the order Salici pentandrae-Betuletalia pubescentis Clausnitzer in Dengler et al. 2004 and the class Molinio-Betuletea pubescentis Pass. et Hofmann 1968, which haven’t been specified for Ukrainian territory before.

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