Pagina 61 - Juliana_Book_eng

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Paederota bonarota (L.) L. – Blue Veronica
Although there is almost no soil in rock crevices, certain plants are adapted to
such conditions and grow there from seeds.
In the western part of the Julian Alps, the blue veronica may be seen hanging in
tussocks from rock crevices. It has round and almost naked, dark green and
shiny leaves. The inflorescence is initially thick, the flowers are violet blue,
with the two stamens protruding from the corolla tube. The inflorescence
lengthens during fruit ripening.
This plant grows only on limestone or dolomite. It is distributed from the
Bergamo mountains in N Italy to the Julian Alps, northern Tyrol and the
Salzburg Alps in Austria.
Paederota lutea Scop. – Yellow Veronica
Much more common in Slovenia than the blue veronica is the yellow veronica,
which has ovately lanceolate, matt green leaves and a yellowish corolla which
is only slightly shorter than the stamens. The plant tends to hang down from
steep rock faces.
It thrives only on limestone and dolomite, on damp rubble and in rock crevices
in the southeastern calcareouse Alps, very rarely in the northern calcareous
Alps, and in Herzegovine in the Balkans.
In Slovenia, the yellow veronica grows mostly in the Alpine district As a
Pleistocene relict, however, it can also be found in shady georges outside the
Alps. The lowest locality in the Country is at Radeče along the Sava River, at
an altitude of 200 m only.
In places where the blue and yellow veronica grow together, an interesting hybrid known as Churchill's Veronica
( Paederota x churchillii) may be found. This hybrid, which was found for the first time on Gartnerkofel in the Carnian
Alps (Austrian Carinthia), has dirty yellowish-violet flowers. In Slovenia it can be found on Mt Mangrt as well as in
the Juliana Botanical Garden.
Paeonia officinalis L. subsp. officinalis – Common Peony
If we know only the peonies growing in our gardens, we will be surprised by
the first acquaintance with this genus in the open shrublands on the mountains
of Nanos, Vremščica, Slavnik and elsewhere in the Kras region. The ancient
genus Paeonia is distributed in the wider Mediterranean area. In ancient times,
the species were a popular medicine against jaundice and diseases of the
bladder and kidneys. Much later they were used for widely different purposes.
The flowers helped to stop “women’s bleeding”, treated epilepsy and gout;
with crushed rhizomes, bleeding from the lungs was alleviated, while the
mixture of honey, wine and rhizomes was used against tuberculosis.
In China, the Peony is a symbol of wealth and honour. And as we occasionally
say that somebody “blushed like a peony”, it also became the symbol of shyness.
Papaver alpinum L. subsp. ernesti-mayeri Markgr. – Julian Alpine
Rough scree slopes in our Alps are home to the silky yellow- and white-
flowered alpine poppies, anchored with powerful rhizomes among sharp
stones.
Four subspecies occur in Slovenia. The only subspecies with white flowers is
the Julian alpine poppy (Papaver alpinum subsp. ernesti-mayeri ), which is
endemic to the Julian Alps, but grows in the Abruzzi Apennines as well. The
other three subspecies are yellow-flowered.
Petkovšek alpine poppy (Papaver alpinum subsp. victoris ) is endemic to the
Bohinj-Krn group in the Julian Alps.
The Rhaetian alpine poppy (Papaver alpinum subsp. rhaeticum) grows in the
Julian Alps, with the exception of the Bohinj-Krn group, and on Mt Skuta in the Kamniško-Savinjske Alps; the gneral
distribution extends to the southern Alps, the southern parts of the Central Alps, and from the Pyrenees to the Balkans.
The third yellow-flowered subspecies of the alpine poppy is the Kerner-alpine poppy
( Papaver alpinum subsp. kerneri ), which is a perennial of the alpine belt; less often, it is also found at lower elevations
on scree slopes or on gravel along torrents. The leaves, are crowded in basal rosettes, the stems are leafless and bristly
hairy; the fruit is a characteristic multi-seed capsule which opens with tiny holes under the flat striate stigma. In