Image of mezereon

Description:

Slo.: navadni volin - Habitat: stony alpine grassland, road side, skeletal ground; southwest oriented mountain slope; open, sunny and dry place; calcareous ground, exposed to direct rain, elevation (all three observations) from 1.800 m (6.000 feet) to 2.000 m (6.500 feet), average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 0 - 2 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. - Substratum: soil among stones and rocks. - Cmment: Daphne mezereum is our most common species of Daphne genus. It is frequent in mixed and Fagus sylvatica forests and along wood edges. One can find it from lowland up to subalpine elevations. As most of our other Daphne members its flowers have strong and pleasant fragrance. Frequently, when walking in the woods, one detects it with his nose before with his eyes. Flowers develop early in spring before the leaves fully develop. - At low elevations its habitus is a small to medium size bush, sparsely branched, with most of its leaves at the end of these branches. The bush is up to 1.5 m tall, sometimes up to 2 m. - At high elevations it looks much differently. It is much smaller, dense, half round habitus plant with many densely arranged branches of approximately the same length. Flowers appear very early when the leaves just start to appear. Later, in early summer, it becomes a low, rounded woody plant with much denser foliage than in the valleys. In autumn it is again beautiful with its bright red, but deadly poisonous berries. At high elevations it usually grows solitary or in groups of just a few plants. - Ref.: (1) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora sterreich Liechtenstein, Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 600. (2) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije, Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007) (in Slovene), p 377. (3) H. Haeupler, T. Muer, Bildatlas der Farn- und Bltenpflazen Deutschlands, Ulmer (2000), p 324. (4) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 1., Haupt (2004), p 960.