Editing Vantaa (section)

===Flora===
[[File:Tammisto la3.jpg|thumb|[[Tammisto]] forest nature reserve]]
Vantaa belongs to the [[taiga]] zone and its flora represents the southern parts of the zone. Vantaa is located at the border between the southern boreal zone characteristic of inland southern Finland and the hemiboreal subzone characteristic of southwestern Finland.

The hemiboreal subzone is a transition subzone between coniferous and deciduous forests, and deciduous trees growing naturally in the subzone include [[oak]]s and [[elm]]s. The river valleys running through Vantaa have previously been full of lush groves, but today most of them are farmed land. However, at some places they are connected to lush [[temperate broadleaf and mixed forests|mixed forests]], transitioning into shadowy spruce forests at some places.

There are prominent [[Alnus glutinosa|alder]] meadows along the river Mätäoja, which are home to various rare insect and plant species. The most common type of forest in Vantaa is a blueberry conifer forest with spruce and birch trees, whereas dry forests are only located at bare cliff areas.

The second most common forest type in Vantaa is the more lush grove-like forest. Its undergrowth includes blueberry, [[wood sorrel]], [[Paris quadrifolia|herb Paris]] and [[lady fern]], as well as [[wood anemone]] at some places.

There are lush groves growing mosaically among the forests, containing common southern grove plants such as the [[Anemone hepatica|liverwort]]. The groves in Vantaa vary greatly, ranging from moist and shady spruce groves growing [[ostrich fern]] to dry groves growing liverwort and [[common hazel]] and hardwood groves. In springtime during the first weeks of May the wood anemone flowers very noticeably in almost all groves and grove-like forests, which is characteristic to the forest growth in southwestern and southern Finland.

There is a centuries-old oak forest in the district of [[Tammisto]], which is considered to be the only natural oak forest in the Finnish capital area. The forest has been protected under the nature preservation law in 1946.<ref>[https://vav.fi/asunnon-hakijalle/kaupunginosasivut/tammisto/ Tammisto], VAV. Accessed on 2 December 2020.</ref>

Although Vantaa is a very urbanised area, a great deal of its surface area still remains as rural fields or forest. The city of Vantaa contains 12.41 square kilometres of nature preserved area (about 5% of the surface area of the city).<ref name="taskussa">{{cite book|editor-last=Rönn|editor-first=Sirpa|title=Vantaa taskussa|url=http://www.vantaa.fi/instancedata/prime_product_julkaisu/vantaa/embeds/vantaawwwstructure/107504_Taskutilasto_2013_SU.pdf|year=2013|publisher=Vantaa|language=fi|isbn=978-952-443-429-4|access-date=2022-09-27|archive-date=2016-06-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624095103/http://www.vantaa.fi/instancedata/prime_product_julkaisu/vantaa/embeds/vantaawwwstructure/107504_Taskutilasto_2013_SU.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> The first nature preserve area in Vantaa was founded in 1946 in [[Tammisto]]. There are two especially protected species in the nature preserve areas in Vantaa, the beetle species ''[[Hylochares cruentatus]]'' and the orchid species ''[[Malaxis monophyllos]]''.<ref>[http://www.vantaa.fi/vapaa-aika/luonto_ja_ulkoilu/luonnonsuojelu/luonnonsuojelualueet Luonnonsuojelualueet], city of Vantaa.</ref>