Pagina 64 - Juliana_Book_eng

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Como in Italy to the Julian Alps and the Western Karavanke Mts, whereas to the north it can be also found in Austrian
Carinthia and Tyrol.
Potentilla erecta (L.) Raeusch. – Common Tormentil
“When the Mother of God ran with God’s child to Egypt, Jesus fell seriously
ill. They were in the middle of the desert and no medicine was to be found. In
desperation, his mother picked a tiny flower and held it out to the child. “Chew
it, and you’ll feel better,” she said. And the sickness indeed subsided soon. As
the Mother of God told him to chew this flower, it is still called ‘Mary’s
morsel’ today.
This legend has been preserved in the rich treasury of folk tradition and tells us
how the plant acquired its Slovenian name “the power of heart” or Mary’s
morsel. This is a perennial herb, 10-40 cm tall, with a hairy stem bearing
palmately divided leaves and yellow flowers with four free petals. The rhizome
is 3 cm thick, red inside, and contains much tannin. The plant grows in acidified meadows, heathlands, marshes and
forests of Eurasia.
In folk medicine, it is known as a remedy for stomach and intestinal problems and was also used for gargling. How highly
appreciated the plant was in former times, is testified by the name “the root of Virgin Mary”. One of the many Slovenian
names is also “the power of blood”: when the root is scraped, a red sap that looks like blood trickles out of it.
The rhizome is short, and in some places the plant is also called “rotten or bloody root”: the middle, strongest root
looks like being bitten off, while other marginal roots are small and thin. It is said that the main root was bitten off by a
fiend. He did so in order to prevent people getting cured. But it is still growing, because small roots are created around
the main root, preventing the plant from being suppressed.”
Primula auricula L. – Bear’s Ear
This plant is known in our country as ‘St. Peter’s key’ and under several other
folk names as well. The bright yellow flowers have a fragrant smell; the leaves,
arranged in a basal rosette, have a cartilaginous margin and are covered with a
floury dusting beneath.
The bear’s ear has a wide ecological range, thriving especially in rocky terrains
of our Alps and their foremountains. In the Zasavje region, on the edge of
Trnovski forest and elsewhere in low-lying places, it is an Ice Age relict. The
lowest site of this plant in Slovenia is at Škocjan Caves.
The bear’s ear is a protected species.
Primula carniolica Jacq. – Carniolan Primrose
“On the way up, you may come across this graceful and fabulously beautiful
primrose, a hybrid between the two noblest primrose species of our Alps, so
remarkably invented by the mountains around Idrija.” So wrote Julius Kugy in
his work From Yesteryear.
At some sites, the Carniolan primrose prospers together with the bear’s ear,
which is the reason why an interesting hybrid can be found there - Idrija
Primula (Primula x venusta). Some of the hybrids look more like the Carniolan
primrose, others more like the bear’s ear. The most attractive form of flowers
and the prettiest colour can be seen in the plants that have inherited the
properties of both parents to about the same extent. They resemble the bear’s
ear in the characteristically floury leaves and the Carniolan primrose in the
reddish and pleasantly scented flowers.
In nature, an encounter with the Idrija Primula is fairly uncommon. At the end of April, it starts to bloom in our oldest
botanical garden, Juliana in the Trenta Valley. Here it propagates very successfully, and Jože Bavcon, the Head of
Botanical Garden in Ljubljana, where seeds from Juliana are sent, was interested whether the seeds perhaps germinated
as well. A few years ago they sowed a few of them, some of them germinated and one of the little plants came into
blossom indeed!
Primula farinosa L. – Bird's-eye Primrose
This is one of the ten primrose species thriving in Slovenia.
The leaves are arranged in a basal rosette, theedges of young leaves being folded down. They are green above and have