Pagina 67 - Juliana_Book_eng

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Satureja montana L. subsp. variegata (Host) P.W. Ball – Karst Savory
This plant is a low little bush with much essential oil. The stem, almost round
in cross-section, is covered with short hairs and bears many glandularly–
spotted leaves.The corolla is mostly pink. This flower is an important source of
nectar for the bees. It starts to bloom in late summer and autumn.
It grows in the Julian Alps, on the western margins of the Dinaric region, in the
western part of the prealpine region, in the southern part of the predinaric
region and in the submediterranean region. The general distribution extends to
the northwestern part of the Balkans.
Satureja subspicata Bartl. ex Vis. subsp. liburnica Šilic – Liburnian
Savory
This plant is a low little bush containing much essential oil. It four-edged stem
bears leaves which are scatteredly glandular-spotted beneath. The corolla is
purple with darker spots at the mouth.
The species can be found in karst woodlands and rock crevices in the hilly and
montane belts of the Dinaric region, on the southern margin of the prealpine
and predinaric regions, and in the submediterranean region. Generally, the
plant is distributed from southern Velebit Mts to Trnovski gozd and Menišija
Mt.
This flower is an important source of nectar for the bees. In the Juliana
Botanical Garden it blossoms from the end of August to September.
Saxifraga crustata Vest – Encrusted Saxifrage
As far as ecological and geographical diversity are concerned, the genus
Saxifraga is one of the champions in the plant world. The generic name derives
from Latin, saxum meaning a rock, frangere meaning ‘to break’. The natural
habitats of many saxifrage species are rock crevices; the roots of these plants
literally “break rocks apart”. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the meadow
saxifrage was used as a medicine for the removal of bladder and kidney stones.
The encrusted saxifrage is one of the commonest species in rock crevices in the
mountains. The leaves, arranged in a dense basal rosette are rimmed by white
crusts of calcium carbonate secreted in the shape of little scales by small
glands. The white flowers are grouped in racemes.
In Slovenia, the plant thrives in rock crevices, on scree and in rocky grasslands
in the Julian and Kamniško –Savinjske Alps, Karavanke Mts, Mt Ratitovec, Dinarides and Čičarija. The general
distribution extends in the eastern Alps and Dinarides from NE Italy south to Montenegro.
Saxifraga hostii Tausch subsp. hostii – Host’s Saxifrage
This saxifrage species is much taller than the encrusted saxifrage, reaching up
to 60 cm. The margin of the leaves is covered by glands which secrete calcium
carbonate. The flowers are milky white to creamy yellow, often with purple
dots.
The species mainly grows in the dwarf pine zone of the Alps. Outside the Alps,
it can be found here and there as an Ice Age relict (e.g. at Falska peč above the
Drava River at an altitude of 290 m). the general distribution extends along the
southern and eastern calcareous Alps (to the west reaching as far as Lake
Como, to the east to the Karavanke mountain range).
The species is dedicated to the Viennese botanist N. T. Host, with whom our
Franc Hladnik used to collaborate. Host wrote a review on Austrian vegetation,
including also data from Carniola (former Slovenia).
Scabiosa hladnikiana Host – Hladnik's Scabious
The leading Carniolan botanist of the first half of the 19th century was Franc Hladnik, who founded the Botanical
Garden Ljubljana in 1810 and established a comprehensive herbarium, now kept by the Slovenian Museum of Natural