Digitized volumes are available at:
https://cbrb.sav.sk/, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/, and older volumes are also accessible at: https://ekniznice.cvtisr.sk/.
The book series Flora of Slovakia ranks among the highest-quality works of its kind published worldwide, thanks to the level of detail and the share of original results. Due to its high graphic standard, individual volumes are regularly awarded by the Prize of the Slovak Academy of Sciences or the Literary Fund.
One volume of Flora of Slovakia typically covers about 150 species belonging to one or several plant families. Preparation takes approximately five years and involves around twenty specialists, primarily from Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and occasionally from Austria, Hungary, or Poland.
Each processed taxon (family, genus, species, subspecies) is thoroughly characterized in terms of nomenclature (scientific and Slovak vernacular names according to current rules), morphology, karyology (chromosome numbers, genome sizes), biology (flowering time, life form, etc.), phytosociology and ecology (habitat types, altitudinal range). For taxa, information is also provided on their origin (for non-native species in Slovakia), overall distribution, and brief notes on their useful properties. The work also includes detailed identification keys and distribution maps for Slovakia. Introductory methodological chapters, abbreviations and symbols, commonly used terms, as well as all identification keys are also provided in English translation. The text is supplemented by original line drawings of plants and their key morphological features, drawn primarily from live material and only exceptionally from herbarium specimens. The book is written in Slovak with the English translation of identification keys.
The published results are applicable in various biological disciplines (agriculture, forestry, water management, etc.), in education, as well as in legislation (e.g., in preparing updated lists of invasive or protected plants, or in developing the Natura 2000 network). At the national level, Flora of Slovakia serves as a basis for compiling Red Books of threatened and rare plants, identification keys, distribution atlases, vegetation maps, and more. It also has irreplaceable value for international projects and works mapping European biodiversity, such as Euro+Med PlantBase and Atlas Florae Europaeae.
To date, 17 volumes of Flora of Slovakia have been published: an introductory volume dedicated to a systematic list of scientific terminology (I), 14 volumes on vascular plants (II, III, IV/1, IV/2, IV/3, IV/4, V/1, V/2, V/3, V/4, VI/1, VI/2/1, VI/3, VI/4), and two on fungi (X/1, X/2). The most recent volume (VI/2/1) was published in 2023.
Future Plans
Our aim is to develop the differentiation and taxonomic classification, morphological and ecological characteristics, and distribution of plant groups in Slovakia that have not yet been processed, thereby completing the monographic series Flora of Slovakia. The following volumes are planned, some of which are already in various stages of preparation:
- Flora of Slovakia VI/2, Part 2 (Asteraceae)
- Flora of Slovakia VI/2, Part 3 (Asteraceae)
- Flora of Slovakia VII/1 (Butomales, Hydrocharitales, Alismatales, Potamogetonales, Liliales)
- Flora of Slovakia VII/2 (Commelinales, Juncales, Cyperales, Pandanales, Orchidales, Arales)
- Flora of Slovakia VII/3 (Poales)
- A volume dedicated to the genus Rubus (ca. 60 species), omitted during preparation of the family Rosaceae in Flora of Slovakia IV/3 (1992)
- A revised Flora of Slovakia I with corrected and updated morphological terminology
