Image of pink barren strawberry

Description:

Slo.: drobnocvetni petoprstnik - Habitat: small woodland openings in predominantly broad leaved wood, Fagus sylvatica and Ostrya carpinifolia dominant with some scattered Picea abies; calcareous (Bot_937/2016_DSC0595) and marly (Bot_937/2016_DSC0603) ground; steep mountain slope, southwest aspect; warm and moderately dry place; elevation 610 m (2.000 feet) (Bot_937/2016_DSC0595) and 760 m (2.500 feet) (Bot_937/2016_DSC0603); average precipitations ~ 2.500 mm/year, average temperature 8-10 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil. Comment: Potentilla micrantha is one of about ten white blooming species of very large genus Potentilla and similarly looking Fragaria. Many more than that bloom yellow. It is a common plant neither in Slovenia nor in neighboring Austria and Italy nor in Switzerland. On the other hand it is very widely distributed in the (mostly south) Alps, almost all other European mountains from Pyrenees to Carpathians including Balkan peninsula. It is a Mediterranean montane floral element. The plant has tiny but beautiful flowers. It is not easy to find it but it can be easily recognized by dark red base of the inner side of sepals, flattened stamens which are minutely hairy at the base (hand lens needed) and the lack of stolons, which are otherwise quite frequent in genera Potentilla and Fragaria. Ref.: (1) Personal communication with Dr. Igor Dakskobler, Natural History Institute 'Jovan Hadi', SAZU. (2) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora fr sterreich, Liechtenstein und Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 481. (3) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 256. (4) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 1., Haupt (2004), p 780. (5) K. Lauber and G. Wagner, Flora Helvetica, 5. Auflage, Haupt (2012), p 250.