The last version of Red List was published already more than 10 years ago but the knowledge of the flora of Slovakia has substantially improved due to large-scale mapping projects and taxonomical research. Therefore an updated fifth edition of the Red List is presented in this paper. For evaluation, we accepted IUCN categories (ER, CR, EN, VU, NT, LC, DD, NA, NE) and criteria (A-D), which were used first time in the history of Slovak Red Lists of ferns and flowering plants. In total 1 218 taxa are listed (the complete list of taxa is given in Electronic Appendix 1), which is nearly 34 % of the total number of 3 619 native taxa and archaeophytes of the flora of Slovakia. More than 80 taxa (7 %) were not confirmed in the flora (66 Regionally Extinct, 17 Probably Regionally Extinct), 155 taxa are evaluated as Critically Endangered (13 %), 171 Endangered (14 %) and 201 taxa are regarded Vulnerable (17 %). The largest group represent 347 taxa evaluated as Near Threatened (29 %), 162 taxa are assessed as Least Concern (13 %), 91 taxa are in category Data Deficient (7 %), and 8 taxa belong to categories of Not Evaluated and Not Applicable (1 %). In this Red List, 27 taxa are included as new for the flora of Slovakia and 14 taxa were rediscovered. Short history of Slovak Red lists of rare and threatened plants is also briefly mentioned.

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This paper presents a survey of high-altitude plant communities which occur in the Western Carpathians with an enumeration of the characteristic, transgressive and differential species of the individual alliances, orders and classes. It describes the tall-herb vegetation (Mulgedio-Aconitetea) and communities of the subalpine shrubs (Betulo carpaticae-Alnetea viridis), the montane and alpine calcareous swards (Elyno-Seslerietea), the wind-exposed cryophilous swards on ridge edges with low snow cover (Carici rupestris-Kobresietea bellardii), the chionophilous communities of snow beds and snow fields (Salicetea herbaceae), the arctic-boreal dwarf-shrub heathlands (Loiseleurio-Vaccinietea), the alpine acidophilous grasslands (Caricetea curvulae) and the high-mountain mat-grass swards of the alliance Nardion strictae (Nardetea strictae). This study summarises the results of the syntaxonomical and nomenclatural revisions of various types of high-altitude vegetation in the Western Carpathians and the longstanding research in the field. The aim of this paper is to amass knowledge about the nomenclatural features, such as the synonyms, original diagnoses and nomenclatural types of the higher syntaxa in the Western Carpathians, that will be important and useful for a forthcoming vegetation survey of highrank syntaxa of Europe (EuroChecklist). It reflects the current status of knowledge regarding the floristic composition and distribution of high-altitude (alpine) non-forest communities in Slovakia. The fourth volume of Plant Communities of Slovakia, which discusses high-altitude vegetation, was recently published. This paper, however, contains some corrections and improvements to the concepts. It is presented in a compact form and in English, which makes it more accessible by international readership.

We present a syntaxonomic account of the communities of the alliances of Oxytropido-Elynion BR.- BL. 1949 and Festucion versicoloris KRAJINA 1933 from Western Carpathians. Both alliances comprise naked-rush, cushion form and dwarf-shrub heath communities typical of wind-exposed habitats occurring at the highest altitudes of the Tatra Mts. They represent a relic vegetation of the cold stages of the Pleistocene (probably Late Glacial Maximum) and they can be classified within the class of Carici rupestris-Kobresietea bellardii OHBA 1974. A set of relevés was subject to numericalclassification analysis. Floristics and ecology of the communities were characterised and the relationships to similar syntaxa were discussed. The Oxytropido-Elynion is restricted to the extreme ridge positions in the highest altitudes of the Belianske Tatry Mts. Five associations were distinguished, such as the Pyrolo carpaticae-Salicetum reticulatae, the Festuco versicolorisOreochloetum distichae, the Festucetum versicoloris, the Oxytropido carpaticae-Elynetum myosuroides and the Drabo siliquosae-Festucetum versicoloris. The Festucion versicoloris is limited to the mylonite zone of the alpine and subnival belt of the Vysoké Tatry and Západné Tatry Mts (and found as rare in the Nízke Tatry Mts). The stands of these communities prefer terraces of steep rocky faces and cliffs and stabilised small-grained screes below the cliffs. Within this alliance, three associations were described, including the Agrostio alpinae-Festucetum versicoloris, the Silenetum acaulis and the Salicetum kitaibelianae.

The aim of the study was to perform phytosociological revision of the scree and ravine forest vegetation in Slovakia in order to identify i) basic vegetation units according to their floristic composition, and ii) to find out the main environmental gradients affecting their compositional variability. Relevés originally assigned to broadly comprehended alliance Tilio platyphylli-Acerion (974 relevés) were used for the analyses. In order to select final dataset (527 relevés), formal criteria, such as tree layer cover >50%, relevé area of 200-500 m 2 and presence at least two from six traditionally accepted diagnostic species of the alliance in Central Europe (Acer platanoides, Lunaria rediviva, Phyllitis scolopendrium, Polystichum aculeatum, Tilia platyphyllos and Ulmus glabra) were applied to the primal dataset. Altitude, aspect, slope, climatic characteristics (mean annual precipitation and air temperature), geological bedrock and Ellenberg indicator values (EIVs) were specified for each phytosociological relevé. We used modified TWINSPAN algorithm for classification, Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) for explanation of species composition-environmental relationships, and both ANOVA corrected using modified permutation test and Mann-Whitney U-test to test environmental differences at each step of division by numerical classification. Two alliances, Melico-Tilion platyphylli and Tilio platyphylli-Acerion were distinguished with three (Aceri platanoidis-Tilietum platyphylli, Scolopendrio-Fraxinetum and Seslerio heufleranae-Quercetum petraeae) and two (Mercuriali perennis-Fraxinetum excelsioris and Lunario redivivae-Aceretum pseudoplatani) associations, respectively. Besides the floristic composition, other important factors for differentiation of the associations were altitude and related climatic characteristics. The main environmental characteristics affecting the overall compositional variability of studied forests were EIVs for light, moisture, soil reaction and temperature. The complex syntaxonomical revision identified five floristically and ecologically clearly differentiated associations, what reduced the number to almost half of previously distinguished communities from the territory of Slovakia. Moreover, presented concept is at alliance level in accordance with recent European classification approach.