© by PSP Volume 16 – No 2. 2007 Fresenius Environmental Bulletin 193 THE USE OF SOME NATURAL PLANT SPECIES FROM THE WESTERN BLACK SEA REGION OF TURKEY FOR LANDSCAPE DESIGN Metin Sarıbaş 1 , Zafer Kaya 1 , Saime Başaran 1 , Barbaros Yaman 1 and Mehmet Sabaz 2* 1 Zonguldak Karaelmas University, Bartın Faculty of Forestry, Dept. of Forest Botany, 74200 Bartin, Turkey 2 Zonguldak Karaelmas University, Bartın Faculty of Forestry, Dept. of Landscape Architecture, 74200 Bartin, Turkey SUMMARY Plant materials have an essential importance in land- scape architectural applications. The use of locally natur- ral-growing plants is generally useful, and provides facili- ties in the selection of plant material. The research for this work was performed in Bartın, Karabük and Zonguldak, located in the Western Black Sea region of Turkey. In this region, two parts of Karabük, named Keltepe and Yenice, have the richest natural vegetation. In this study, 101 woody and 417 herbaceous (a total of 518) plant species in land- scape architecture have been investigated. Shape and col- our of the flower, blossoming time and its duration, have been observed. In addition, each plant type was evaluated separately for its possible use in landscape planning for the investigated area. A total of 92 of the investigated plants were collected for the first time and identified as new species. The plant species which are naturally distributed in the floral regions are 104 „Euro-Siberian“; 61 „Mediter- ranean Element“; 34 „Euxine“; 96 „Widespread“; 7 „Hyr- cano-Euxine“; 8 „Irano-Turanien“; and 210 unknown spe- cies. Here, the Compositae family showed the highest number of genera (41) and species (66), respectively. From 11 endemic plants with defined landscape value, the spe- cies Dianthus setisquamosus, Dianthus kastembeluensis, Centaurea cadmea, Centaurea kilaea, and Centaurea inex- pectata were at the top, but the other endemic species should also be taken as being valuable for planting. Later on, the use of Cardamine sp., Silene sp., Tamarix sp., Pterocarya fraxinifolia, Cercis siliquastrum, Origanum sp., Muscari sp. and Cyclamen sp. in landscape regulations should be provided. KEYWORDS: Natural plants, natural plants identification, landscape values, species used in landscape architectural applications. PRELIMINARY REMARKS The earliest botanical researches in the study area were performed by Rıza and Palibine in 1920 [1], who primarily focussed on weeds and different kinds of woody plants. Other similar studies by Birand (1968) [2] and Kasaplıgil (1947) [3] described in detail the plant species of the West- ern Black Sea region. The plant families in the forest Ka- rabük-Büyükdüz have been investigated in terms of phyto- sociology by Aksoy (1978) [4], and the Sakarya-Filyos- river area regarding phytogeography by Yalçınlar in 1985 [5]. The relationship between a great part for the herein investigated plants and the wood species in remote floras was the subject of examinations performed by Browicz in 1988 [6]. In total, 134 representative woody areas of the wood assemblages in the Çitdere-Yenice area have been analysed also for their phytosociology by Özalp (1989) [7]. Paleobotanic information on the investigated area can be found in the report of Aytuğ (1970) [8], and information on the wooden structures in the planned Bartın-Kirazlı area is given by Başaran (1998) [9]. As the basis for identification of the plant species de- scribed herein relied upon the volumes of the “Flora of Turkey and East Aegean Islands”, edited by Davis (1964- 1985) [10], as well as on the reports by Bonnier (1912- 1934) [11], and Tutin and Heywood (1964-1980) [12]. Also considered in this regard were the works of Arnal (1996) [13] and Noordhuis (1996) [14], as well as that of Yaltırık and Efe (1989) [15]. Yaltırık (1991) [16] and Acartürk (1997) [17] served further as botanical reference for this investigation, and also Mayer and Aksoy (1998) [18] were consulted for the determination of habitat-characteristics of the respective wood-taxa. Aspects concerning the use of natural plant species in landscaping were discussed by Koç (1977) [19] and Ayaşlıgil (1989) [20]. The work of Kostak (1998) [21] was additionally considered due to its rele- vance concerning handling and storage of ornament plants that occurred naturally in the flora of Turkey. In some Turk- ish cities, plants from natural habitats were planted/ used through landscape design measures, which have been de- scribed also in the literature (Erik et al. (1998) for Ankara