The bedrock of the area, Triassic dolomite, forms a highly variegated orography, featuring sharp ridges and deep valleys, on which a mosaic of mesic and xeric oak forests, karstic open woodlands, steppe forests and grassland communities has been formed. The southern hillsides of dry and warm microclimate are only a few meters apart from the cold northern slopes so the vegetation could survive significant shifts in the climate by migrating only a few meters. On the cold, northerly aspects a number of species from the last glaciation survived. These plants, which are now extinct from the rest of the Carpathian-basin, are typically Alpine species, including Festuca amethystina, Calamagrostis varia and Carduus crassifolius ssp. glaucus.