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'mini-Zeltnera' < 2.5' tall
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One this day the plants were very actively visited by a number of possible pollinators, including wasps, bees, butterflies, and ants.
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Slo.: ozkocvetna taventroa - syn.: Erythraea tenuiflora, Erythraea latifolia auct., non Sm. - Habitat: sea shore, flat terrain, partly grassland; calcareous, skeletal, humid ground; full sun; exposed to direct rain; elevation 10 m (33 feet); average precipitations ~ 1.000 mm/year, average temperature 13-15 deg C, Mediterranean phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil. Comment: Centaurium tenuiflorum is a typical Mediterranean plant, which is quite common along sea shores of Adriatic islands. Otherwise the plant grows in the entire Mediterranean. It requires humid ground. So, it is often found close to sea on marshy ground, near springs and half salt lakes, which often form in small bays along the law land coast. There are several other quite similar species in this genus growing in Mediterranean. Typical traits of Centaurium tenuiflorum are clustered, flat-topped flowers, which have short flower stalks and narrow calyx tube of only about 1 mm diameter. Also there are no ground rosettes leaves. Two ground leaves are almost completely withered at the time of flowering. The pictures were taken on the island Olib in Croatia, but the plant can be (still) found along Slovenian sea shore. It is rare there and considered critically endangered facing extinction in Slovenia. Protected according to: Pravilnik o uvrstitvi ogroenih rastlinskih in ivalskih vrst v rdei seznam, Uradni list RS, t. 82/2002 (Regulation of enlisting of endangered plant and animal species onto Red List, Official Gazette of Republic Slovenia, no. 82/2002) (2002). Enlisted in the Slovene Red List of rare and endangered species, marked by 'E' representing a critically endangered species. Ref.: (1) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 506. (2) I. Schnfelder, P. Schnfelder, Was blht am Mittelmeer? Kosmos (2000), p 171. (3) M. Blamey, C. Grey-Wilson, Wild Flowers of the Mediterranean, A & C Black, London (2005), p 176. (4) R. Domac, Flora Hrvatske (Flora of Croatia) (in Croatian), kolska Knjiga, Zagreb (1994), p 306.
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north facing bank at roadside, in tan tuffaceous volcanic soil, partially shaded
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Slo.: triglavski svisc
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Slo.: Cluzijev svi - syn.: Gentiana clusii ssp.undulatifolia - Habitat: 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. - 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.
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Slo.: trzaski svisc
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Slo.: mocvirski svisc
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seeps in steep face of roadcut in volcanic rhyolitis tuff. Elev. 6018'
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interesting that fringes on adaxial surface of petal lobes may be 0 to 4mm, which I interpret as non existent in some cases. Case in point, earlier images of mine from Yosemite.
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In TJM2, changed to: Frasera speciosa
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Slo.: casasti sviscevec
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Slo.: tauentroa - syn: Centaurium umbellatum Gilib., Centaurium minus Moench, Erythraea centaurium - Habitat: near sea shore, flat terrain, partly grassland; calcareous, skeletal, humid ground; full sun; exposed to direct rain; elevation 10 m (33 feet); average precipitations ~ 1.000 mm/year, average temperature 13-15 deg C, Mediterranean phytogeographical region. Comment: This originally European southern-temperate plant is widely naturalized also outside its native range. It frequently grows on disturbed places and on a wide range of habitats like chalk and limestone grassland, open woodland and scrub, dry grassland, quarries, spoil-heaps and road sides. It is a well known, thousand years old medical plant and one of the most bitter herbs at all. It strengthens digestive function by increasing stomach secretions. The whole herb is appetizer, aromatic, bitter, cholagogue, diaphoretic, emetic, febrifuge, hepatic, stomachic and tonic. However, there are no scientific clinical studies made on people about it. Nevertheless, its effectiveness on (at least) digestion is evident even without them. Ref.: (1) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 2., Haupt (2004), p 6. (2) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora fr sterreich, Liechtenstein und Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 700. (3) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 506. (4) K. Lauber and G. Wagner, Flora Helvetica, 5. Auflage, Haupt (2012), p 740. (5) http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/202950/0