GR4340007 - FARANGI THERISSOU

Quality

The quality and importance of Therissos gorge is comprised of the following elements: 1) It is of great aesthetic value. 2) It is easy to approach, due to its location near the town of Chania and the existence of the road, running along it. 3) There is a variety of sufficiently conserved habitats within a small area. 4) Its flora is rich in common and endemic species; the latter are of great interest and most of them are rare or threatened and protected at international (Bern Convention) or national (Presidential Decree 67/81) level. The local endemics Ferulago thyrsiflora and Petrorhagia dianthoides and the non-endemic Ranunculus creticus are included in the IUCN Red Data List (1993) in the category of threatened plants characterized as "rare" and they are protected by the Greek Law (Presidential Decree 67/81). Other important species are: Lactuca acanthifolia (= Scariola acanthifolia) is found in Ydra, Cyclades, East Aegean Islands andonly in SW Turkey out of Greece. The species Onosma graeca is found ionly in NW Anatolia, out of Greece. Brassica cretica ssp. cretica is a chasmophyte occurring only in C. and S. Lebanon out of Greece. 5) The rarity of the snake Elaphe situla (which islisted in the Annex II of the Council Ditective 92/43/EEC) which lives in the site together with the fact that Crete is the southernmost limit of this species distribution, make its preservation very important for the fauna of the island. Other important species with motivation D: Podarcis erchardii: There is a dense population of the species in the site, in contrast with the rest of Crete, which is the southernmost limit of its distribution. So, the conservation of this population is of great importance for the preservation of the reptile fauna of the island as a whole.