Recent progress in floristic and taxonomic studies in Bulgaria

An overview of floristic and taxonomic research on vascular plants in Bulgaria during the period of 2005-2016 has been made. The Bulgarian flora currently comprises 4064 species, belonging to 921 genera and 159 families. About 490 published papers were checked, in which 127 species were reported for the first time for the country by Bulgarian or foreign botanists, 11 of these taxa being ones new to science, while 51 are aliens. In the papers checked, 17 subspecies (two of them new to science) and 18 hybrids (four of them new to science) were also reported for the first time for the country, nine species were confirmed, and another 78 were unconfirmed, synonymised, or erroneously reported. In numerous papers, new localities for various species in different floristic regions in Bulgaria were reported. The books Flora of the Republic of Bulgaria Vol. 11, Red Data Book of the Republic of Bulgaria Vol. 1. Plants and Fungi, Atlas of Endemic Plants in Bulgaria, Invasive Alien Species of Vascular Plants in Bulgaria, Proceedings of Balkan Botanical Congress IV, etc., were published during the given period.