Gentiana-clusii_20.

Description:

Gentiana clusii Perr. & Song., syn.: Gentiana clusii ssp.undulatifoliaTrumpet Gentian, DE: Clusius' Enzian, Kalk-Glocken-EnzianSlo.: Cluzijev sviDat.: July 2. 2014Lat.: 46.43901 Long.: 13.64296Code: Bot_807/2014-DSC1435Habitat: alpine grassland, south inclined moderate mountain slope, calcareous, skeletal, shallow ground; sunny and dry place, exposed to direct rain, average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 0-2 deg C,elevation 1.985 m (6.500 feet), alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: skeletal calcareous soil.Place: Mt. Mangart's flats, somewhat below the beginning of terminal loop of Mt. Mangart alpine road, west of the top of Mt. Mangart, 2.679 m (8.790 feet), East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC Comment: Gentiana clusii is probably the second on list of the best known and most popular alpine flowers not much left 'behind' Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum). Pictures of its beautiful and large (particularly compared to the leaves!) flowers have been used on countless products, from chocolates to toilet tissues, adds, signs, logos, etc., etc. Hundreds of millions of people have seen it printed, stylized, projected, but much less have had a real encounter with this mountain miracle.Gentiana clusii is a common species in Slovenian Alps growing from lower montane elevations (the lowest stand I know in my region is at good 500 m elevation) up to alpine zone. It inhabits almost whole Alps and all surrounding mountain groups, but it stays on European ground.Although I have seen and photographed Gentiana clusii many times, this group was extraordinary beautiful and magnanimous. About forty densely packed large flowers were there growing in three close groups, almost all of them in perfect shape. A true delight for everybody and particularly for a photographer. Another 'king of the Alps'! Genus name of Gentiana clusii origins from Latin name of its brother Gentiana lutea, a highly efficient medical plant (also my personal experience), which Plinius named after the last Illyria king of Skodra about a century BC. The white flowers shown on some of the pictures are Dryas octopetala and Aster bellidiastrum. Salix herbacea, Miosotis alpestris and Helianthemum nummularium can also be spotted.Protected according to 'Uredba o zavarovanih prosto iveih rastlinskih vrstah'Ur.l. RS, t. 46/2004 (Regulation on protected wild plants, Official gazette of Republic of Slovenia, No. 46/2004). Gentiana clusii is enlisted in the Slovene Red List of rare and endangered species. It was marked by "V" representing a vulnerable species, but is now re-categorized to mark "O1" representing a potentially endangered species.Ref.:(1) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 2., Haupt (2004), p 16.(2) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije, Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007) (in Slovene), p 508. (3) M.A.Fischer, W.Adler, K.Oswald, Exkursionsflora sterreich Liechtenstein, Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 694.(4) H.Genaust, Etymologisches Wrterbuch der Botanischen Pflanzennamen, Nikol Verlag (2012), p264.