 pinus mugo, rhododendrons, junipers) and dotted with small colorful flowers.Higher up are the montane grasslands and even areas similar to a desert because they have no or almost no vegetation (rocks, glaciers).Italy has around 6,711 (6,759) species of vascular plants (Conti et al., 2005 "An inventory of vascular plants endemic to Italy"), preceded only by the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands with around 7,500 vascular plant taxa (species and subspecies) (Castroviejo 2010 "Flora Iberica").