THE HISTORY OF STUDYING THE VEGETABLE COVER OF THE EASTERN PART OF THE ROCKY RIDGE from the XVIII to the XXI century
The history of studying the vegetation cover of the Eastern part of the Rocky Ridge from the XVIII - early XXI centuries is summarizes in this article. On the basis of numerous scientific publications, priorities in its study in the territory under consideration during this period are identified, and a periodization of the history of botanical research is proposed. The dependence of the degree of scientific knowledge of the territories on the conditions of economic development in the region and the country as a whole is noted. The first comprehensive studies in the Caucasus were dictated by Russia's geopolitical interests in this region. Intensive development of natural resources, including botanical resources, and their natural-scientific research in the second half of the XIX and early XX centuries is associated with the emergence of capitalist relations in Russia. The intensification of research in the 20-60s of the XX century was caused by the state need to increase the natural resource potential. Almost in the three-hundred-year history of botanical research in the territory under consideration, the period from 1963 to 2020 is the most effective, during which dozens of new plant species were described, complex taxonomic groups were critically processed.