Crocus-vernus-ssp-vernus_56

Description:

Crocus vernus ssp. vernus (L.) Hill, syn.: Crocus vernus (L.) Hill, Crocus sativus var. vernus L., Crocus napolitanus Mordant & Loisel.Family: IridaceaeEN: Spring Crocus, Dutch Crocus, DE: Gewhnlicher Frlings-Safran, Gewhnlicher Frlings-KrokusSlo: spomladanski efranDat.: Feb. 20.2020Lat.: 46.33637 Long.: 13.54153 (WGS84)Code: Bot_1273/2020_DSC02080Habitat: Mixed wood; hardwood, broadleaf tress dominant; moderately inclined mountain slopes; south aspect; cretaceous clastic (flysh) bedrock; humid and relatively warm place; mostly in shade or half-shade; average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 8-10 deg C, elevation 450 m (1.500 feet), alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil.Place: Bovec basin; northwest of 'Jezerca' place, west of Bovec; East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC.Comment: Crocus vernus ssp. vernus is a common plant in Slovenia and one of the earliest spring flower growing mainly in light woods but also on meadows. On some spots flowers appear in massive numbers, which color forest ground patches completely violet. Where it is intermixed with other blooming flowers it provides particularly magnificent vistas. Such spot is west of Bovec, where it appears in thousands and thousands. There, it is accompanied by white Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) and Spring Snowflakes (Leucojum vernum). All three plants have bulbs and love quite humid habitat. This is assured by flysh bedrock at this site. This rock keeps rain water much longer than surrounding limestone or dolomite bedrock, which most of Julian Alps are composed of.Ref.:(1) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 754. (2) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 2., Haupt (2004), p 1092. (3) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora fr sterreich, Liechtenstein und Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 1025.