- 10 - data C.A.Mey which has been survived in the Girkan refugium as well as to A. cordata Desf., A.nepalensis D.Don, A.japonica (Thunb.) Steud. Forests of Platanus platanifolia (Ett.) Knobl., which were common to Miocene - Pliocene Europe too, were rather widely distributed. Particularly interesting are the humid, subtropical forests with abundant evergreen species, particularly laurels.They occu- pied the warmest and most humid ecotopes on the lower levels of the mountains. The species of evergreen subtropical flora in the Pliocene- beds of Kodor account for about 25% of the total, which is al- most half that in the Sarmatian Floras of Abkhazia.Nevertheless, some of them are of considerable interest: Araliaceae - Bra- s-siopsis mirabilis (Kolak.) Kolak., Schefflera integrifolia Ko- lak., S.pontica Kolak.; Fagaceae - Cyclobalanopsis kryschtofovi- chii Kolak., Castanopsis elisabethae Kolak.; Lauraceae - Cinna- momophyllum marginatum Kolak. et Schak., C.cinnamomeum (Rossm.) Hollick, Laurus pliocenica (Sap. et Mar.) Kolak., Lindera ovata Kolak., Oreodaphne heerii C.Gaudin, Litsea pontica Kolak., Persea colchica Kolak. The Pontian and Cimmerian floras of Colchis are also chara- cterized by an unusual variety of ferns, often of tropical ori- gin, revealed mainly by the spore-pollen method. In this connec- tion, the Tertiary flora of Colchis has no analogue among the more ancient floras of the Tertiary period. This flora is espe- cially rich in genera of the Polypodiaceae (Woodsia, Pterig, Po- lypodium, Cyclosorus, Cryptogramma, Anogramma, Woodwardia). The representatives of tropical families, such as Hymenophyllaceae, Cyatheaceae, Dicksoniaceae, Gleicheniaceae, are encountered more rarely. In the Kodor forests we find lianas such as Smilax, Hedera, Dalbergia, Periploca, Kadsura, Schisandra, Cissus, Ampelopsis, Trichosanthes, and Aristolochia. It is interesting to note the presence of the bamboo Sasa kodorica Kolak., the analogue of which - S.japonica (Sieb. et Zucc.) Makino - forms continuous thickets in Japan and on the adjacent islands.