Apophyten in der Flora von Mitteleuropa

Apophytes are native plants colonizing man-made habitats. This phenomenon is widespread, and has been known since 1903 but little studied. Therefore the role of apophytes in the studies of synanthropic flora has often been underappreciated. Since the 1950th the apophytic occurences have been increasing in number and distribution. The more the species are associated with humans in their native range the more successful they are as invasive species after having been introduced to new areas. Therefore the knowledge of the degree of apophytism in the home range is a good criterion to predict the degree of expansiveness of the species in new areas.