, occur at medium
elevations. They are usually almost entirely deciduous but have wide
varieties of species. The larger trees include maple, ash, beech, and
oak, but these are vastly outnumbered. Intermediate varieties of
hawthorne, dogwood, hazel, and cherry flourish among the larger trees,
and hundreds of smaller plants, ranging from bushes, shrubs, and ferns
to grasses and moss, provide ground cover. With a profusion of varieties
in constant competition for available space and soil, those that do best
in a particular soil mixture prosper in a given locality. Because the
soil in the uplands relates closely to the base rock and the mountains
were created by geologically recent folding that has exposed the edges
of layered rock formations, there are abrupt changes in the basic
surface rock. This is reflected immediately in mixed woods by equally
abrupt changes in the species that appear.

Of the more abundant smaller flora families, the daisy, pea, grass,
pink, nettle, mustard, parsley, figwort, rose, buttercup, and lily
groups has more than fifty species that can be found within Albania.
Flowering plants flourish especially well in limestone areas where there
are masses of vividly colored wild flowers during the springtime. Must
less brilliant colors appear on serpentine outcroppings and, as is the
case with the mixed woods, the difference is abrupt where limestone and
serpentine are the surface rocks in closely adjacent areas.

Wildlife

Summer livestock grazing in the mountains and uncontrolled hunting
reduced wildlife to insignificance. Some deer, wild boar, and wolves
remain in the more remote forests. Chamois were plentiful in the area
but are now extremely rare. Wild fowl, however, are abundant in the
lowland swamps and lower forests.

Minerals

Exploitation of the country's minerals generates the largest share of
the gross industrial product and provides employment for the largest
number of the industrial labor force. This does not indicate, however,
that the country is rich in mineral resources, but it serves to
underscore the still poorer state of its agricultural and industrial
sectors and indicates that the country engages in relatively little
international commerce.

There are considerable reserves in oil and natural gas. Oil can be
extracted in quantity sufficient to meet domestic demands and to export.
A pipeline from the oilfields at Stalin (formerly Kucove) transmits the
oil to the port of V