Unexpected burst of new data on vascular plantsflora for the Lesser KurilRidge and the whole Kuril archipelago

Flora of the southern Kuril continental islands is extremely diverse due to the complex history of geologyand climate,fluctuating connections with other territories in the past, and the habitat diversity of thearchipelago. It is likely well-investigated due to the long history of botanical studies, andfloristicfindingsare expected only in taxonomically difficult plant groups. To test this assumption, we carried out a specialinvestigation of the aquatic vascular plants on the Lesser Kuril Ridge (isl. Shikotan, Polonskogo, Yurii,Tanfilieva, Zelyonyi) and isl. Kunashir. In line with our expectations, we revealed nine taxa that havenever been reported for the whole Kuril archipelago (including six new for Sakhalinfloristic province ofRussia:Potamogeton manchuriensis,P.sparganiifolius, P.variifolius, P.vepsicus, Sagittaria aginashi,Sparganium subglobosum); all of them are aquatic ones. We found 24 species that are new for the LesserKuril Ridge or the whole Southern Kurils from which only about a half were aquatic. Unexpectedly, wefound 53 mainly terrestrial species that are new for the Little Kurils (the Lesser Kuril Ridge withexception of isl. Shikotan), and substantially supplementedfloristic lists of each island. KCI Citation Count: 1