ABSTRACT
Due to progress in quaternary research the number of real and of pretended warm–climate periods increases. So much work is needed to rely on true interstadials or interglacials only. Botanically defined interstadials may be used for stratigraphical purposes only if their paleoecological development fulfills all prerequisites of true interstadials and if they are typical for a certain time and for a distinct region only. Recently the number of interglacials increases the vegetation histories of which strongly resemble each other though they are of different ages. To use these interglacials for stratigraphic purposes means to have understood the decisive steps in their paleoecological development on the background of former plant–geographical conditions.
