page_title: Tatra Mountains
section_title: Flora
hierarchical_section_title: Tatra Mountains / Flora
caption_attribution_description: Gentiana punctata (pl. goryczka kropkowana)
context_page_description: The Tatra Mountains, Tatras, or Tatra, is a mountain range that forms a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They are the highest mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains. The Tatras are distinct from the Low Tatras, a separate Slovak mountain range further south.
  The Tatra Mountains occupy an area of 785 square kilometres, of which about 610 square kilometres lie within Slovakia and about 175 square kilometres within Poland. The highest peak, called Gerlach, at 2,655 m, is located north of Poprad, entirely in Slovakia. The highest point in Poland, Rysy, at 2,499 m, is located south of Zakopane, on the border with Slovakia.
  The Tatras' length, measured from the eastern foothills of the Kobylí vrch to the southwestern foot of Ostrý vrch, in a straight line, is 57 km, and strictly along the main ridge, 80 km. The range is only 19 km wide. The main ridge of the Tatras runs from the village of Huty at the western end to the village of Ždiar at the eastern end.
  The Tatras are protected by law by the establishment of the Tatra National Park, Slovakia and the Tatra National Park, Poland, which are jointly entered in UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
context_section_description: The Tatra Mountains have a diverse variety of plant life. They are home to more than 1,000 species of vascular plants, about 450 mosses, 200 liverworts, 700 lichens, 900 fungi, and 70 slime moulds. There are five climatic-vegetation belts in the Tatras.
  The distribution of plants depends on altitude:
  up to 1,300 m: Carpathian beech forest; almost no shrub layer, herbaceous layer occupies most of the forest floor
  to 1,550 m: Spruce forest; shrub layer poorly developed, mosses are a major component
  to 1,800 m: Mountain Pine, numerous herbs
  to 2,300 m: high altitude grasslands
  from 2,300 m up: Subnivean - bare rock and almost no vegetation (mostly lichens)
caption: Gentiana punctata
exif: {}