Alevkaya Herbarium: Endemic Flora in the Kyrenia Mountains

How many endemic plants grow in Cyprus? And how much of that do we really know? Anyone asking this question meets a number that ranges from 128 to 142 depending on the source. And anyone who searches online for the "Alevkaya botanical garden" and goes there will not find flower beds. The place is called the North Cyprus Herbarium, and it houses a collection made up of pressed plant specimens. The collection is kept in the main building of the Alevkaya Forest Station on the ridge of the Kyrenia Mountains (Beşparmak). The name, of course, is no more fixed than the numbers. In the records we have, this variability has accumulated because every source looks at a different year's list and a different counting unit. Here are the details.

How Many Endemic Plants Are There, and Why Does the Figure Move?

The lowest figure is 128, and it rests on a 2014 United Nations biodiversity report, where the count was made at species level. In the data of an environmental department, 140 endemics appear within the island's flora of 1,908 taxa. The dynamic checklist by Hand and colleagues gives 141 endemic taxa as of February 2023. In the same team's 2011 classification the figure was 142. Confusing, so which one should be taken as the basis? Looking at the most current and academic one, it is the Hand team's count, but writing it up as the single truth would be wrong, because a species and a taxon are not the same unit.

Between 57 and 61 Endemics on the Kyrenia Ridge

Moving from the island as a whole down to the mountain range, the band narrows. The same 2014 report gives 57 endemics for the Kyrenia Mountains, while an undated Turkish compilation raises the number to 61. Both counts show that the endemics are concentrated in the higher parts of the range. The two counts are not interchangeable. The concentration along the range is seen elsewhere too: one academic study identified seven "Important Plant Areas" along the Kyrenia range and named Alevkaya as one of them. The others on the list are Buffavento, Beşparmak, Kıvançtepe, Karmi, St. Hilarion and Kantara. The number of species unique to the territory of North Cyprus also fluctuates; set the sources side by side and you will see a range of 16 to 22. The figure that comes up most often is 19. These numbers come from undated guide and news sources; some count the species growing in the Kyrenia Mountains, some those growing across the whole of North Cyprus.

Who Founded the Collection Opened in 1989

This collection, searched for under the name Alevkaya botanical garden, opened on 9 November 1989 and is the first herbarium of North Cyprus. The records we examined agree on this date. It was prepared jointly by the Forestry Department, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and the botanist Deryck Viney, and it was opened by the minister of the day, Taşkent Atasayan. The collection on opening day was smaller than today's: there were about 450 species that day, 21 of them endemic. The following year's record is in a different unit: in the summer of 1990 there were about 800 specimens. Viney's own collecting period spanned 1988 to 1993, during which he gathered over a thousand kinds, and in 1994 he published his book "An Illustrated Flora of North Cyprus". The collection holds around 750 of his drawings. In most of the pressed specimens, the plant's root, bud, fruit, leaf and flower appear together.

Species or Specimens: The Unit Gets Mixed Up

The figure that comes up most often is 1,250, but the unit of that number changes from source to source. A Turkish record writes it as about 1,250 plant specimens, while English guides give the same number as species. What difference does mixing up the unit make? The island's entire native flora is around 1,649 taxa, so if 1,250 is read as species, the greater part of that flora would be gathered in a single collection, which is possible on paper but not supported by the sources.

Viney's compilation also fits this range. According to the records we compiled, the safe reading is this: there are roughly 1,200 to 1,250 plant records, and an old and loose statement has it that these represent over a hundred species unique to Cyprus. That figure is at the scale of the whole island; the number of species unique to the territory of North Cyprus alone sits in a much lower band. Our suggestion: look for the unit as well.

A Few Familiar Faces Among the Island's Endemics

The Cyprus tulip, Tulipa cypria, is the best-known name in this flora and is listed as "endangered" on the IUCN list. It flowers in March and April. The endemic orchid Ophrys kotschyi is widely seen in grassy spots beneath the pines and cypresses of the range. Cyclamen cyprium favours the forest understorey of the island's mountains between 300 and 1,200 metres, while Delphinium caseyi appears on the IUCN Red List and is recorded in the higher parts of the range. All four are Cyprus endemics. In limestone crevices you can see the kyreniae subspecies of Teucrium cyprium, and on shaded rocks Arabis cypria. Do not miss this: a single-source, undated list counts Silene fraudatrix (Alevkaya catchfly), Brassica hilarionis (St. Hilarion cabbage), Salvia veneris (Değirmenlik sage) and Sedum lampusae (Lapta stonecrop) among the North Cyprus endemics, and they carry the place names in their Turkish rather than Latin forms. If you come across these species in the field, do not pick them, and please, please do not dig up the bulbs; a small endemic population can feel the loss of even a single root.

Two More Items to Check Before You Set Out

Before heading for the collection searched for as the Alevkaya botanical garden, please clear up two more items. According to an announcement by the Highways Department, the mountain road climbing from the Acapulco junction in Kyrenia to Alevkaya is closed to through traffic for saloon cars and motorcycles as part of the Highway Master Plan study, on grounds of safety of life and property. The closure period has been extended several times, so check the department's current announcement before you go up. The second item is fire. Lighting fires is banned nationwide between 1 May and 31 October; only designated picnic areas are exempt, and Alevkaya is counted among those areas. If you see a fire in the forest, call 177; the hotline is free.

Doubly sourced guide records give 08.00-16.00 every day, but this information is not confirmed for 2026, so ask before you go. The real time to visit is spring. The pressed specimens stay in place all year round, while the flowering calendar outside varies by species; in the records you will find month information only for the Cyprus tulip.

For the trails that start from Alevkaya, see the Kyrenia mountains hiking guide, our Buffavento Castle article for the neighbouring stop on the same ridge, and the Karmi village Kyrenia page for the village named on the Important Plant Areas list.