Blackstonia-perfoliata-subsp-perfoliata_1

Description:

Blackstonia perfoliata (L.) Huds. subsp. perfoliata, syn.: Chlora perfoliata (L.) L.,Gentiana perfoliata L.Family: Gentianaceae Juss.EN: Yellow-wort, DE: Durchwachsenblttriger BitterlingSlo.: preraslolistna grenicaDat.: May 14. 2007Lat.: 44.36550 Long.: 14.7799, asl 50 mCode: Bot_0187/2007_DSC7481 Place: Adriatic Sea, island Olib, halfway form village Olib to Juna Slatina bay, near the cross, Zadar archipelago, Croatia EC. Habitat: Garrigue, abandoned fields, old, mostly abandoned olive groves, road sides and semiruderal ground; flat terrain, calcareous ground, open, sunny, dry places; elevation from 3 to 50 m; average precipitations ~ 1.000 mm/year, average temperature 13-15 deg C, Sub-Mediterranean phytogeographical region. Substratum: red karst soil.Comment (pertains to pictures in the Flickr album Blackstonia-perfoliata-subsp-perfoliata): Blackstonia-perfoliata-subsp-perfoliata is a small but interesting plant of Mediterranean region. However, it spreads also in Central European countries as well as in UK. In Slovenia one can find it almost exclusively in its warmest parts near the Adriatic coast. The plant has interesting leaves. Two opposite, grayish- or bluish-green upper stem leaves are completely fused together at the base, so it appears the stalk is growing through a single leaf. Blackstonia-perfoliata-subsp-perfoliata's sister taxon Blackstonia perfoliata ssp. serotina is very similar but their upper stem leaves are much less distinctively fused together and also have three (albeit often hardly to see) leaf veins instead of a single, central one as with Blackstonia-perfoliata-subsp-perfoliata.The name given to the taxon is after English pharmacist and botanist John Blackstone who lived in 18. century.Ref.:(1) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 505. (2) M. Blamey, C. Grey-Wilson, Wild Flowers of the Mediterranean, A & C Black, London (2005), p 175.(3) I. Schnfelder, P. Schnfelder, Kosmos Atlas Mittelmeer- und Kanarenflora, Kosmos, (2002), p 63.(4) N. Jogan (ed.), Gradivo za Atlas flore Slovenije (Materials for the Atlas of Flora of Slovenia), CKSF (2001), p 152.