Plants and Mushrooms
Flora in Latvia consists of seaweeds, moss, club-moss, horsetails, ferns and seedlings. The flora list of Latvia contains 1,800 species, 1,310 of them are of local origin, 350 are introduced adventive species, but around 140 are garden species that grow in the wild. This is a large or even a very large number for such a small county as Latvia with rather flat relief. Around 1,470 species can be found in Latvia every year, but the remaining 265, occasionally.
Meaning in Nature
Latvian flora has developed in unique geo-climatic crossroads, where north-south and east-west flora come together. Plants are the main living form in all vegetation types: forest, meadow, swamp and even in cemetery sands. Distribution of them reflects concrete regularity that allows to judge about the growth soil humidity, lighting, acidity etc. Also, the changes of natural flora due to the economic activity or introduced adventive species can be told from that.
Orchids
Due to their incredible floral complexity Orchids are one of the most beautiful plants of the world. This complexity it's been reached after a long way towards a specialization of flowers that can attract animals making the pollination easier. They have been so successful on it that there are up to 25.000 species in the world. They are also one of the most diverse families as they present different shapes, sizes and colors. However, they require particular mycorrhizal fungi to sprout and the seeds can lie dormant for several years. In Latvia there are 32 Orchid species. You can see the species here.
Mushrooms
Mushrooms (Fungi, Mycota) are a group of organisms; they have been studied by mycology. Mushrooms are very diverse due to their size and structure, they multiply by means of spores. Currently in Latvia there are around 4,100 mushroom species, but when picking mushrooms we take just 20-30 species.