8 November 2025 marks the 5th Anniversary of Osogovo Nature – Online flora of Osogovo Mountain – five years of documenting, exploring, and sharing the rich plant biodiversity of the Osogovo region.
Osogovo nature is a comprehensive digital resource – virtual atlas/on-line flora of the Osogovo Mountain Massif in North Macedonia. When I launched Osogovo nature five years ago, my vision was clear: to provide informative, engaging content that promotes a deeper understanding of the region’s biodiversity and ecological importance. I have worked to achieve this goal through extensive fieldwork, sharing scientifically curated, open-access information thru the lens of digital technology. The entire project is presented as and open access platform that merges the formats of flora, botanical atlas, field blog and research hub into one comprehensive virtual resource.
So far, Osogovo nature has surpassed profiles of 1300 species which are accessible from the site’s Vascular plants list. The list includes 2 local endemics, 59 Balkan endemics and 63 species with a wider distribution in the Balkan and surrounding regions (Endemism).
The site features detailed Materials and methods section, which includes notes on my fieldwork in the Osogovo region, observed localities, photographic documentation of the region’s flora, taxonomy – including sources, literature and diagnostic keys used for determination, as well as info on the site design. The site hosts a significant amount of photographic documentation – over 70,000 photographs, most of which are taken in situ in the plants natural habitat, as well as scaled and microscopic images useful for diagnosis.
Osogovo features a complex topography, with altitudinal gradient from c. 400 up to 2,252 meters, supporting a diverse array of habitats, including: lowland hill pastures, ruderal regions, mixed oak forests and European beech forests, conifer plantations, subalpine pastures, rocky terrains, riparian forest and other moist/ wet habitats such as hydrophilous tall herb vegetation on river banks/ springs and mires in the highest parts of the range. The blend of natural and human-influenced environments contributes significantly to the floristic diversity of the region. Fieldwork sites were selected to represent this ecological and elevational variation. Over 30 localities/ regions were visited in the past five years, from the lowland up to 2085 m altitude (Carev vrv peak), representing different habitat types.
The site is continously updated as research in the region yield new data and new taxa are discovered.
The site is created and maintained by the author Trajche Dimitrovski, a trained biologist/botanist with a strong interest in plant taxonomy and biodiversity documentation. All taxa included on Osogovo nature are recorded, determined and photographed by the author.
Explore the flora of Osogovo Mountain at osogovonature.com
