Saussurea-pygmaea_23

Description:

Saussurea pygmaeaZwerg-AlpenscharteSlo.: pritlikava kosmatuljaDat.: Aug. 05. 2013Lat.: 46.44133 Long.: 13.64306Code: Bot_739/2013_DSC3908Habitat: Alpine stony grassland and large calcareous boulders, almost flat terrain, calcareous ground; full sun, wind-swept place, exposed to direct rain, average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 8-10 deg C,elevation 1.980 m (6.500 feet), alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil among rocks, scree and in rock crevices of large boulders.Place: Mt. Mangart flats, between Mangart alpine road and west face of Mt. Mangart, East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC Comment: Growing solitary on a large calcareous boulder. This is another interesting endemic plant of East Alps (and west Carpathians Ref.:(1)). It is one of late summer blooming high mountain flowers. One can hardly find it significantly below 2.000 m (6.500 feet). Its somehow strange, hairy appearance always surprises me. Saussurea pygmaea is quite a common plant on Mangart's flats, although literature considers it as not common or even rare in other parts of East Alps.Ref.:(1) T. Wraber, 2 x Sto alpsih rastlin na Slovenskem (2 x Hundered Alpine Plants of Slovenia), in Slovene, Preernova Druba (2007), p 186.(2) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora Oesterreich Liechtenstein, Suedtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 926.(3) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije, Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), in Slovene, p 675.