ALIEN FLORA FROM DOLJ COUNTY, ROMANIA/FLORA ALOHTONĂ DIN JUDEȚUL DOLJ, ROMÂNIA

The areas covered by alien plants in Europe have expanded during recent years. Romania ranks 17th out of all European countries, with 740 allochthonous species. Most of these plants are classified as neophytes (703), the rest being archaeophytes (23), or archaeophyte-neophytes (14). The analysis of alien plants on the territory of Dolj County led to the identification of 160 taxa that belong to 49 botanical families. The best represented family is Asteraceae, with 30 taxa. There is a significant gap between the family holding the first position and the following two, i.e., Amaranthaceae, with 11 taxa and Fabaceae, with 10 taxa. Even though almost half of the families with identified alien plant species have only one representative, the reality in the field shows a completely different image, as the populations of the respective taxon are abundant (e.g., Phytolacca americana, Ailanthus altissima, Acer negundo, Asclepias syriaca, etc.). The analysis of the plant inventory revealed the presence of certain invasive taxa (Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Erigeron canadensis, Vallisneria spiralis, Erigeron annuus, Robinia pseudacacia), which found good development conditions on the territory of Dolj County. Some of them are of interest to the European Union (Asclepias syriaca, Ailanthus altissima, Elodea nuttallii). Climate changes occurred during recent years, associated with human activities in all domains, have led to obvious transformations in the chorology of some alien species on the territory of Dolj County. Xerophilous, thermophilic, heliophilous, and anthropophilic species (e.g., Abutilon theophrasti) are favoured.