High-zone distribution of white-carnations (Dianthus L.) of Northern Caucasus

Carnation (Dianthus L.) is the largest variety in the clove family, having about 300 kinds, is widely represented in Europe, Asia, tropical and Southern Africa. The center of the diversity of the kinds of varieties is the Mediterranean. In the North Cauca-sus there are 25 varieties of Dianthus L., among them is Belovetian varieties having 9 kinds (D. arenarius L., D. awaricus Charadze, D. creta-ceous Adam, D. daghestanicus Charadze, D. elbrusensis Charadze, D. fragrans Adams, D jaroslavii Galushko, D. lanceolatus Stev., et Reichenb. (D. pallens Sibth. et Smith.), D. tichomirovii). The study analyzes the distribution of white-flowered carnations by habitats and high-altitude belts of the Northern Caucasus. In the steppe there are D. lanceolatus, D. arenarius, in the forest - D. fragrans, in semi-arid - D. jaroslavii, D. elbrusensis, D. awaricus, D. daghestanicus, D. cretaceous, D. fragrans and D. tichomirovii rare-ly enter, in subalpine - D. cretaceus, D. elbrusensis, in the Alpine, on relatively warmed southern stony slopes are D. awaricus Charadze, D. daghestanicus. The richest in varieties is semi-arid belt; the poorest is the Alpine belt. In the forest belt white-flowered cloves are rare and only in open areas. Three varieties (D. awaricus, D. jaroslavii, D. fragrans) are noted only in one of the belts. There are no special patterns in geographical dis-tribution of the kinds of the varieties Dianthus L. of the Northern Caucasus. All carnations are typical heliophytes, plants of open habitats, they are found mainly on arid hollows, sunny slopes with open vegetation, or completely without it, on stony out-crops free from wood, rocky and scree-debris. Within arid hollows cloves do not exhibit strict con-finement to particular substrate.