Pagina 58 - Juliana_Book_eng

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The species grows in rocky grasslands, on scree and in dwarf pine stands from
the montane to the alpine belts.
The orange-flowered groundsel is more common in the Alps, but it is also
found at Veliko Kozje, on Sveta Gora and Čaven. The general distribution
extends to the Eastern Alps, including the northeastern Dolomites.
Knautia fleischmannii (Hladnik ex Rchb.) Pacher – Fleischmann's
Widow Flower
Andrej Fleischmann (1804-1867) was a gardener in the Ljubljana Botanical
Garden from the age of fifteen till death. He was a disciple of Franc Hladnik,
the Garden's founder. With him, he walked the entire Carniola, when collecting
plants for the garden and its herbarium. When Hladnik went blind,
Fleischmann proceeded with his botanical work. In 1843 he published the book
An Overview of the Carniolan Flora, but his data are not always accurate and
reliable. With his herbarium specimens he participated in the collection Flora
Germanica exsiccata. For this notable herbarium collection he obtained a till
then undescribed plant, which was soon named after him as Scabiosa
fleischmannii; later on, it was classified in the genus Knautia , but retained its
species name.
Fleischmann collected two subspecies of his Knautia, which slightly differ in the shape of leaves. On Katarina hill near
Ljubljana he found the subspecies Knautia fleischmanii integrifolia, while on Grmada in Polhograjski Dolomiti he
came across the subspecies Knautia fleischmannii heterophylla. Today, both are classified as simple forms of the same
species.
The rhizome proceeds into a floral stem, with rosettes growing at the side. The stem leaves are, at least in some
specimens, dissected. The leaves are somewhat leathery, thinly hairy or almost naked and shiny. The globose
inflorescences are surrounded by involucral bracts. The flowers are 4-lobed, reddish purple.
Knautia fleischmannii is an endemic plant of the southeastern Pre-alpine mountains. It can be found in dry grasslands
and shrublands from Polhograjski Mts to Istria and the region of Kočevje, with a single locality at Gorski Kotar.
Lathyrus pannonicus (Jacq.) Garcke subsp. varius (Hill) P.W. Ball –
Variegated Pea
This plant belongs to the family Fabaceae. The genera of this family are
characterised by their papilionaceous flowers with five petals: the upper petal
is called standard, the two side petals are called wings, while the lower two
petals form the so-called keel and are often grown together at the bottom. The
fruit is a multi-seed legume, which opens with two valves.
This species has a short subterranean rhizome bearing tuberous roots. The
leaves are paripinnate, with two to three pairs of linear to narrowly lanceolate
leaflets. The petals are yellowish white, but the standard can occasionally be
embellished with a reddish tinge.
In Slovenia this species can be found in the submediterranean region in mown
meadows and in places overgrown with shrubs. The ceneral distribution
extends from southern and eastern Europe to Siberia.
Leontopodium nivale (Ten.) Hand.-Mazz. subsp. alpinum (Cass.)
Greuter – Edelweiss
(Leontopodium alpinum)
The cradle of the genus Leontopodium is in the mountains of central Asia, where many species can be found. Although
in fact almost an alien, the edelweiss is considered as a symbol of the Alpine flora.
At the top of its stem, it carries a single ‘virtual flower’ which, in fact, consists of tiny florets arranged in small heads,
surrounded by long radiating bracts. The entire plant is thickly covered by white hairs.
Being often picked, the Edelweiss became endangered already in the 19th century. In the Goriška region it became
protected in 1896, and two years later in Carniola and Styria as well.