Contributo alla conoscenza della vegetazione della Foresta Regionale “Monte Arsenti – Poggi di Prata” (Toscana centro-meridionale).

The results of a vegetation survey carried out with the Braun-Blanquet method on the Regional Forest named “Monte Arsenti - Poggi di Prata”, located in South-Western Tuscany, are here presented. Vegetation has been described by 112 original phytosociological relevés, which have allowed several vegetation types to be singled out. Many forest, riparian, shrubland, grassland and marshland vegetation types are put in relation to existing syntaxa, but literature and statistical analysis has led us to recognise and describe two new associations, a grassland one (Carici liparocarpi-Brometum erecti) and a forest one (Anemono apenninae-Quercetum cerridis). Then, the study briefly considers the distribution of plants and habitats deserving conservation treatment according to European Habitat Directives and Tuscan laws. In addition, it shows up where a local hot-spot of biodiversity worthy of conservation is located: in the summit areas of Poggi di Prata. Finally, some agronomic and forest management guidelines for the conservation of the most interesting naturalistic phytocoenoses are given.