Cephalaria leucantha (L.) Roemer & Schultes, syn.: Scabiosa leucantha L., Scabiosa trenta HacquetEN: Giant Scabious, DE: Weier Schuppenkopf, Weibltiger Schuppenkopf, Weiblhender SchuppenkopfSlo.: bleda obloglavka, trentarski grintavecDat.: July 22. 2019 Lat.: 45.443873 Long.: 13.966619Code: Bot_1232/2019_DSC09021 Habitat: dry grassland partly overgrown with scattered trees and bushes, locally flat terrain, skeletal, calcareous ground; open, sunny, dry place; elevation 485 m (1.919 feet);average precipitations 1.800 2.000 mm/year, average temperature 9-10 deg C, sub-Mediterranean phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil.Place: South of village Rakitovec (Slovenia), Kraki rob place, 900 m south of Slovenia/Croatia border crossing Rakitovec, next to the road toward town Buzet, Istria, Croatia EC. Comment: Cephalaria leucantha is a plant with a special significance in the history of Slovenian botany. It was first described more than 200 years ago in 1782 by Balthasar Hacquet. He was a medical doctor and an important scholar of very wide scope, living in the town Idria. Amon other activities he intensively researched Slovenian flora, particularly high in the Alps. A that time he described to the first time a beautiful, pale yellow plant found somewhere on the south slopes of Mt. Triglav above the Trenta valley. Exact location was lost. A dried specimen and Hacquet's drawing of the plant still exist in the herbarium of the Natural History Museum in Ljubljana. He named the new species Scabiosa trenta after the valley Trenta (note that some time ago Cephalaria leucantha was moved from genus Scabiosa to genus Cephalaria). After that the plant apparently 'disappeared' and hence became a botany riddle. Many botanists had been searching for it for more than 100 years, but none successfully. The plant became a great source of inspiration for later botanists and mountaineers of that time, especially for Julius Kugy, a German of Slovenian descent. He was writer, botanist, humanist, lawyer, musician and the father of modern mountaineering in the Julian Alps. He had searched for his beloved 'princes', as he named it, for almost all of his life. Much later Austrian botanist Anton Kerner found by careful inspection of the plant in the herbarium in Ljubljana that it doesn't represent a new Alpine species, as Hacquet was convinced, but a much more south growing Mediterranean plant Scabiosa leucantha (today named Cephalaria leucantha). So, the riddle was solved. It is quite possible that the plant, which Hacquet found, was among the last of its species growing in the Julian Alps and is now extinct from this region. Scabiosa trenta on the slopes of Mt. Triglav was probably a relic of warmer times between last ice ages. During that time many southern plants protruded far north into Alpine regions and were pushed back to the south by following colder climate. Nevertheless, Scabiosa trenta remains a strong symbol in Slovenian botany.The pictures shown here were taken at Kraki rob place in Croatia just 500 m southwest of Slovenia/Croatia border. But the plant can be found also in Slovenia in its warmest, southwest regions, however only in a few MTB squares. It also enters the most southwest parts of the Alps.Ref.:(1) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 2., Haupt (2004), p 404.(2) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 499. (3) W.K. Rottensteiner, Exkursionsflora fr Istrien, Verlag des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins Krten (2014), p 423.(4) M. Blamey, C. Grey-Wilson, Wild Flowers of the Mediterranean, A & C Black, London (2005), p 425.
Lomelosia graminifolia (L.) Greuter & Burdet, syn.: Asterocephalus graminifolius (L.) Spreng., Asterocephalus sericeus Jord. & Fourr., Scabiosa graminifolia L., Scabiosa sericea Jord., Succisa graminifolia (L.) MoenchFamily: CaprifoliaceaeEN: no name found, DE: Grasblttrige Skabiose, Sudalpen-GrasskabioseSlo.: travnolistni grintavecDat.: July 25. 2019Lat.: 46.357628 Long.: 13.703451Code: Bot_1233/2019_09032Habitat: at the bottom of a steep mountain ravine occasionally flooded by a torrent during heavy rain periods; among gravel and colluvial material, calcareous, sandy and stony ground; sunny, open places; elevation 535 m (1) (1.750 feet); and 545 m (2) (1.800 feet); average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 6-8 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: sandy soil among rocks.Place: Lower Trenta valley, between villages Soa and Trenta; right bank of river Soa, slightly upstream from the farmhouse Matev, Trenta 1, East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC.Comment (applies to Flickr album): Lomelosia graminifolia is a very beautiful plant with narrow, silvery-silky-green leaves. These characteristic leaves distinguish it from all other eight species of this genus growing in Slovenia unmistakably. It is a relatively rare plant in Slovenia and also in Austria and Switzerland. There exist only about 60 documented occurrences of it in the Slovenian plant database FloVegSi. So far it has been found only once in the alpine phytogeographical region of the East Julian Alps. This site is located on the riverbank of Soa river downstream of the town Bovec The seeds were evidently deposited there by waters of the river. This, of cause, proves that the plant thrives somewhere in the mountains upstream of this site. Yet, it has never been found there. Nobody knew from which upstream valley the seeds origin. Did they come from the main Soa valley or from its tributaries Krajcarca, Lepenica or Vrsnica, or from Koritnica valley or Monica side valley? Waters of all these valleys join upstream of this site. This year I accidentally found the plant in the Lower Trenta valley on the right bank of the river Soa between villages Soa and Trenta at about 530 m elevation and about 20 m away of the water stream. Also here the seeds were evidently deposited by high waters, since the plant grew directly on the water deposited sand and gravel. Yet, the place was suspiciously high above the water level of the river Soa. It seemed quite improbable that, even at peak water levels, it itself could deposit the seeds there. The place of the find was at the same time on riverbed of a dry torrent in the ravine descending from the steep southeast slopes of the Mt. Bavki grintavec, 2.347 m. So, the seeds could eventually be deposited by the torrent waters. Indeed, I found another plant about 100 m higher in the ravine. Also here it bloomed just at the bottom of the ravine on a place at which not only vegetation but also sand and rocks are wiped off by gush torrent's waters during extremely rainy periods. This place obviously can't have any connection with Soa river waters. We were now fairly sure that the plant thrives somewhere on the southeast slopes of Mt. Bavki grintavec. A week or two after my first encounter with this plant we made a 'mini-excursion' up along the ravine and soon found another two plants. At about 750 m elevation the ravine splits into two branches. The left, main branch continues toward Mt. Bavki grintavec peak, the right branch heads up toward Zapotoki vrh, 1.941 m and Velika vrata mountain pass. On the left fork of the ravine we found nothing (needs further visits), but in the right fork we found another two plants. Apparently on all these new sites the plants were also deposited by water and hence they do not represent their original growing place. Climbing further up, at the elevation of about 900 m, we were prevented to continue by approximately 20 m high vertical, unpassable cliffs (during heavy rain periods a beautiful waterfall appears there temporary) and we had to give up our searching. Thus we haven't yet found the original place where this rare plant thrives, however we are pretty sure the place must be somewhere on southeast slopes of Mt. Bavki grintavec and/or south slopes of Mt. Zapotoki vrh. Fortunately, there is a way around these cliffs, a hunter's trail, which will, we hope, allow us to continue to search along the ravine above the cliffs until we find the 'sacred place'. Next year, hopefully! Ref.:(1) Personal communication and common trip with Dr. Igor Dakskobler, Scientific Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. (2) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora fr sterreich, Liechtenstein und Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 801.(3) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 501. (4) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 2., Haupt (2004), p 424.(5) K. Lauber and G. Wagner, Flora Helvetica, 5. Auflage, Haupt (2012), p 1028.
Succisa pratensis Moench, syn.: Scabiosa succisa L., Succisa praemorsa Asch.EN: Devil's-bit Scabious, Devil's-bit, DE: Gewhnlicher Teufelsabbiss, Wiesen-Abbisskraut, AbbisskrautSlo.: travnika izjevkaDat.: June 10. 2008Lat.: 45.84361 Long.: 14.26548Code: Bot_270/2008_DSC9145Habitat: Karst field, moist grassland; flat, frequently flooded terrain; open place, full sun, average precipitations 1.600 - 1.800 mm/year, average temperature 8-10 deg C, elevation 445 m (1.450 feet), Dinaric phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil.Place: Planinsko polje (Planina fields) near village Planina, Notranjska, Slovenia EC.Comment: Succisa pratensis is widely distributed but not quite common Euro- West-Asian floral element. It can be found from plains to subalpine elevations and is at home in all European mountains (Ref. 4). It can be found scattered almost in the whole Slovenia.Yet, Succisa pratensis is consciously relatively infrequently encountered. There seem to be two reasons for that. First: it is predominately bound to its preferred habitat - wet grassland, a habitat, which is relatively rare and gradually disappearing. Second: superficially it is quite similar in appearance to several truly widespread and common (and therefore of little interest) grassland plants pertaining to "widow flowers" (genus Knautia) and "scabious" or "pincushion flowers" (genus Scabiosa). Many of them are of similar habit and shape of their inflorescence - heads and color of flowers. Only a closer examination makes distinguishing Succisa pratensis from other similar plants easy. It has only four petals in the individual flowers (four lobed flowers) in contrast to others, which have five petals (five lobed flowers) and its stalk leaves are opposite not alternate. It is interesting that there exist two types of these plants. Some have flowers with stamens and pistils (bisexual flowers), others have only female flowers having pistils only.Ref.:(1) Personal communication Mr. Branko Dolinar,
www.orhideje.si(2) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora fr sterreich, Liechtenstein und Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p xx.(3) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 499. (4) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 2., Haupt (2004), p 406.(5) K. Lauber and G. Wagner, Flora Helvetica, 5. Auflage, Haupt (2012), p 1020.(6) L. Pintar, A. Selikar, Cvetje Slovenske Deele - Florula Slovenica, Zaloba Narava d.o.o. (2015) (in Slovenian), p 79.
Succisa pratensis Moench, syn.: Scabiosa succisa L., Succisa praemorsa Asch.EN: Devil's-bit Scabious, Devil's-bit, DE: Gewhnlicher Teufelsabbiss, Wiesen-Abbisskraut, AbbisskrautSlo.: travnika izjevkaDat.: June 10. 2008Lat.: 45.84361 Long.: 14.26548Code: Bot_270/2008_DSC9145Habitat: Karst field, moist grassland; flat, frequently flooded terrain; open place, full sun, average precipitations 1.600 - 1.800 mm/year, average temperature 8-10 deg C, elevation 445 m (1.450 feet), Dinaric phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil.Place: Planinsko polje (Planina fields) near village Planina, Notranjska, Slovenia EC.Comment: Succisa pratensis is widely distributed but not quite common Euro- West-Asian floral element. It can be found from plains to subalpine elevations and is at home in all European mountains (Ref. 4). It can be found scattered almost in the whole Slovenia.Yet, Succisa pratensis is consciously relatively infrequently encountered. There seem to be two reasons for that. First: it is predominately bound to its preferred habitat - wet grassland, a habitat, which is relatively rare and gradually disappearing. Second: superficially it is quite similar in appearance to several truly widespread and common (and therefore of little interest) grassland plants pertaining to "widow flowers" (genus Knautia) and "scabious" or "pincushion flowers" (genus Scabiosa). Many of them are of similar habit and shape of their inflorescence - heads and color of flowers. Only a closer examination makes distinguishing Succisa pratensis from other similar plants easy. It has only four petals in the individual flowers (four lobed flowers) in contrast to others, which have five petals (five lobed flowers) and its stalk leaves are opposite not alternate. It is interesting that there exist two types of these plants. Some have flowers with stamens and pistils (bisexual flowers), others have only female flowers having pistils only.Ref.:(1) Personal communication Mr. Branko Dolinar,
www.orhideje.si(2) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora fr sterreich, Liechtenstein und Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p xx.(3) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 499. (4) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 2., Haupt (2004), p 406.(5) K. Lauber and G. Wagner, Flora Helvetica, 5. Auflage, Haupt (2012), p 1020.(6) L. Pintar, A. Selikar, Cvetje Slovenske Deele - Florula Slovenica, Zaloba Narava d.o.o. (2015) (in Slovenian), p 79.