Geography of Georgia - Flora

The flora of Georgia is rather varied. Nearly third of the area of the country is occupied with woods. They are concentrated mainly in the mountains. In the west of Georgia they go down to the sea and in the east grow in the foothills. The woods of the Black Sea coast are especially rich and varied. There you can see subalpine and Alpine meadows, magnificent variety of herbs. The trees are represented by broadleaved species: oaks, hornbeams, chestnut trees, maples, beeches, evergreen rhododendrons, cherry laurels, boxwoods, and Caucasian bilberry. This wood type is called Colchis . It is distinguished by the abundance of lianas. At certain places it gets barely passable. A little higher you will find the belt of the mixed woods of deciduous and coniferous trees. The relic pines are frequent there too.

The woods of eastern Georgia are not so diverse. The most widespread woods in the upper belt of the mountains are spruce and silver fir, and the ones to the east consist only of pines and birches. On the lower level coniferous woods give way to beechen ones followed by oak and hornbeam forests. In the utmost east of the country there are small patches of dry steppes with such species as hackberry, pistachio, pomegranate, and Jerusalem thorn. In the valleys of the Kura , the Alazani, the Tori and other rivers grow flood-plain riparian forests of willows, silver poplars, oaks, and cornels.