Asperula-aristata_22

Description:

Asperula aristata L., syn.: Asperula longiflora, Asperula cynanchica ssp. aristataSouthern Squinancywort, DE: Grannen-Meier, Grannen-Meister, Grannen-WaldmeisterSlo.: dolgocvetna perlaDat.: Aug. 16. 2016Lat.: 46.36214 Long.: 13.70822Code: Bot_997/2016-DSC4469Habitat: colluvial, almost barren, stony, calcareous ground; scree and rocks; side of a mountain ravine, very dry place, partly sunny, moderately steep mountain slope, southeast aspect, exposed to direct rain; elevation 610 m (2.000 feet); average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7-9 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil among stones.Place: Lower Trenta valley, between villages Soa and Trenta; right bank of the ravine descending from Mt. Srebrnjak, 2.100 m (6.890 feet), reaching the bottom of the valley slightly upstream from Otokar farmhouse, Trenta 4, East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC.Comment: Asperula aristata is another mini-jewel in the genus Asperula. Its flowers are only a few millimeters long and not much than one or two in diameter. However, they are beautifully shaped in tender, small trumpets. The whole plant is tender and hence a challenge for a field photographer. The plant is inconspicuous and if one walks fast, he will not notice it. This Mediterranean - montane floral element enters the Alps only in their south, south-east and south-west part. It grows also in Pyrenees, Apennines, Dinaric Mountains and south Balkan Peninsula mountains. It is not a common plant (because it is so easy to be overlooked?), but quite frequent in the Julian Alps and Trenta valley. Just a little bit norths in south Austria it is denoted as a rare plant (Ref.:1).Asperula aristata is variable. For example in literature it is considered having pink flowers. However, almost all of them I've found in Trenta valley are snow white. Several subspecies have been described in literature but Flora Alpina Ref.3 does not recognize them. If one accepts these subspecies the plant on my pictures would be named Asperula aristata ssp. oreophila (Briq.) Hayek.Ref.:(1) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora fr sterreich, Liechtenstein und Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 703.(2) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 517. (3) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 2., Haupt (2004), p 344.(4) K. Lauber and G. Wagner, Flora Helvetica, 5. Auflage, Haupt (2012), p 760.