Aethionema-saxatile-ssp-saxatile_2b

Description:

Aethionema saxatile ssp. saxatile (L.) W.T. Aiton, syn.: Aethionema almijarense Amo & Campo ex Amo, Thlaspi saxatile L. Family: BrassicaceaeEN: Burnt Candytuft, Stone Cress, DE: Felsen-Steintschel, Felsen-SteincresseSlo.: navadna kamnicaDat.: May 30. 2019Lat.: 46.357643 Long.: 13.702730Code: Bot_1205/2019_DSC07279Habitat: on top of stony roadside scarp; sandy soil in crevices of the wall; calcareous ground; open, dry, partly sunny place; elevation 545 m (1.790 feet); average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 6-8 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: Sandy soil in rock wall crevices. Place: Lower Trenta valley, between villages Soa and Trenta; right bank of river Soa, near farm house Matev, East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC.Comment: Aethionema saxatile ssp. saxatile is not a common plant as its Slovenian vernacular name "navadna" (common) "kamnica" (growing on rocks) suggests. It is a quite tiny plant and hence probably also frequently overlooked. The species is primarily a Mediterranean floral element, but it grows also in almost the whole Alps and other European mountains (Ref.: 7). In several regions it is quite rare (Ref.: 2, 8) and protected. IUCN considers it a vulnerable species. In Slovenia it grows sparsely scattered all over the country. But it has been apparently found the most frequently in the Alps, just around Trenta valley. In Croatia one can find it in the mountains Velebit, but most frequently much southern in the mountains of the Adriatic Sea shores and particularly on island Bra (a very stony island with quite high mountains) (Ref.:6). Tiny flowers of Aethionema saxatile ssp. saxatile are usually reddish, pink or violet. They can be also almost white, but rarely. The plant is in any case a tiny beauty seldom encountered!Ref.:(1) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 448.(2) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora fr sterreich, Liechtenstein und Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 644.(3) www.infoflora.ch/de/flora/aethionema-saxatile.html (accessed 30.11.2019)(4) N. Jogan (ed.), Gradivo za Atlas flore Slovenije (Materials for the Atlas of Flora of Slovenia), CKSF (2001), p 22.(5) T. Selikar, B. Vre, A. Selikar, FLOVEGSI data base, The Jovan Hadi Institute of Biology ZRC SAZU, 2003; bijh.zrc-sazu.si/sl/zbirka/podatkovna-zbirka-flovegsi-fav... (accessed 1.12.2019)(6) Flora Croatica Database (FCD), Department of Botany, Faculty of science, FER-ZPR, University of Zagreb (2004); hirc.botanic.hr/fcd (accessed 30.11.2019)(7) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 1., Haupt (2004), p 578.(8) K. Lauber and G. Wagner, Flora Helvetica, 5. Auflage, Haupt (2012), p 530.