the area around the town is mostly covered by deciduous forests. the prevailing tree species are oak and hornbeam. subalpine and alpine flora is represented by gramieae, poaceae papilionacenae and cyperaceae (feather-grass, brome-grass, cereals, sedge). the vegetation period is short. high humidity contributes to humus formation. currently there are about 877 described plant species from 4 classes (equisetophyta, polipodiophyta, pinophyta, magnoliophyta), 57 families and 33 genera. the analysis of the local plant species confirmed that these include 4 caucasian endemic and 2 armenian endemic species.