Lavreotiki peninsula is situated in Attika prefecture of Greece and is a long-term multi-metal contaminated site due to ancient (3000-200 BC) and more recent (1864-1982 AD) mining and metallurgical activities (Panagopoulos et al., 2009). Over the centuries, a flora adapted to soil pollution has eventually colonize the contaminated sites. The aim of the present work was to investigate the taxonomic and phylogenetic (alpha and beta) diversity patterns along a large heavy metal concentration gradient.