Dactylorhiza-majalis-ssp-majalis_15

Description:

Dactylorhiza majalis ssp. majalis (Rchb,) Hunt Summerh., syn.: Orchis latifolia nomen ambiguum, Dactylorhiza comosa (Scop.) Sell.Western Marsh Orchid, DE: Breitblattrige FingerwurzSlo.: majska prstasta kukavicaDat.: June 6. 2015Lat.: 46.42545 Long.: 13.59906Code: Bot_884/2015_IMG8162Picture file names: from Dactylorhiza-majalis-ssp-majalis_raw_10 to Dactylorhiza-majalis-ssp-majalis_raw_20.Habitat: steep, northwest oriented mountain slope, road side; loosely settled shallow scree, sand and stones with not much organic matter; quite humid place only sparsely overgrown; open, sunny place; calcareous bedrock; exposed to direct rain, elevation 1,150 m (3.800 feet), average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 4 - 6 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: sandy, skeletal, shallow soil.Place: Above the Mt. Mangart Alpine tool road, just after the bridge over 'Mangartski potok' stream, East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC Comments: More than 30 plants have been growing on this unusual place. Most of them were recognized as Dactylorhiza majalis ssp. majalis (pictures 10 through 14) although many plants showed large variability and could be determine only as Dactylorhiza majalis agg, while the plant on pictures 18 and 19 is a hybrid, possibly with Dactilorhiza lapponica (among other possibilities) (Ref.:1), which has also been found at the same place. Such are smaller plants in the group shown on picture 17.The habitat is very unusual (picture 20). Usually Dactylorhiza majalis ssp. majalis grows on acid, wet grassland and marches. This place was much different. It was totally wiped off all soil, all vegetation, including trees and a section of Mt. Mangart's Alpine tool road fifteen years ago by a huge rockslide (estimated to 1.000.000 m3 of material), which destroyed and damaged 25 houses of the village Log pod Mangartom and took seven human lives 1.000 m lower at the bottom of the Koritnica valley. A new section of the road has been built and its quite steep, unstable and at that time totally barren banks have been fixed by iron mesh (the mash can be seen on picture 17). And yet, a portion of such a devastated place is today full of rare and protected orchids! Protected according to 'Uredba o zavarovanih prostoiveih rastlinskih vrstah'Url. RS, t. 46/2004 (Regulation of protection of wild growing plants, Official Gazette of Republic Slovenia, No.:46/2004). Enlisted in the Slovene Red List of rare and endangered species, marked by "V" representing a vulnerable species.Ref.:(1) Personal communication and confirmation of identification by Mr. Branko Dolinar.(2) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije, Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007) (in Slovene), p 771. (3) H. Kretzschmar, Die Orchideen Deutschlands und grenzender Lander, Quelle & Meyer (2008), p 94.(4) H. Baumann, S. Kuenkele, R. Lorenz, Orchideen Europas, Ulmer (2006), p 53. (5) B. Dolinar, Kukavievke v Sloveniji (Orchids in Slovenia), Pipinova Knjiga (2015) (in Slovenian), p 49.