Ligurian Flowers

Arnica (Mountain arnica L. - COMPOSITAE) Partial protection
It’s an European species: in Italy it is present in the northern regions, on the greater summits of the Apennine and of the Ligurian Alps. It grows in the mountain and subalpine meadowlands, among the rhododendron bushes, in the glades of larches and blooms in July and August. The Arnica is often employed in the popular medicine, as basis for drugs used in case of bruise, contusions, articular effusions, sciatica, lumbago. The parts, rich of active principles are the flowers and the rhizome, that is the underground stalk.

Star of the Alps (Aster alpinus L. - COMPOSITAE) Total protection
It’s a typical, glacial relict, diffused in the cold northern regions of Asia, Europe and the American continent: proceeding towards south the Star of the Alps is more and more rare and grows only in the mountain. In Italy it lives in the alpine region, until 3000 meters of height, and on the northern and central Apennine. You can find it in Liguria, where its presence in the Group of the Beigua is singular, at low altitude and at a short distance from the sea. It blooms in July and August. The bloomed top of these composite is constituted from an inflorescence, the flower-head, formed from many central flowers and round them you can find many peripheral flowers (flowers, not petals), disposed radially.

Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis L. - AMARYLLIDACEAE) Partial protection
It’s an European species, present in all the Italian regions except Sardinia. In Liguria you can find it on the Apennine and on the southern and eastern buttresses of the Ligurian Alps, with a fragmented distribution, even though the environments are suitable for sheltering the snowdrop: it prefers the shadowy, humid and fresh environments, at altitudes included between 200 and 1000 meters. The flowering is very early, between the end of February and the end of April.

Small Bellflower (Leucojuim vernum L. - AMARYLLIDACEAE) Partial protection
This species is diffused in the southern regions of Europe; in our country it can be found in northern Italy, in Tuscany and the Marche. In Liguria it appears sporadically on the Apennine and on the southern buttresses of the Ligurian Alps. It’s similar to the snowdrop in the ecological requirements and in the flowering period: they are similar species but clearly distinguishable: the small bellflower has 6 equal tepals (similar to petals, that substitute for calyx and corolla), the snowdrop has 3 external, long and white tepals and 3 internal, bilobate, short tepals, with a greenish spot to the apex.

Bellflower with equal leaves (Bellflower jsophylla Moretti - CAMPANULACEAE) Partial protection
This is the endemic species more valuable of the Ligurian flora: it grows in the minimal fissures of calcareous cliffs between Caprazoppa and Capo Noli, from the sea level until nearly 400 meters above sea level; it can grow on the façades of the houses (for example in the ancient groups that compose the inhabited place of Verezzi). It can even live in small blind holes of the cliff, that remain totally hidden from the small stalk and from the leaves: in these conditions there is the contrast between the shades. It blooms in September.

Bellflower of Savona (Bellflower sabatia De Not. - CAMPANULACEAE) Total protection
Also this bellflower is an endemic species exclusively from Liguria, limited to the provinces of Savona and Imperia (from the hinterland of Spotorno to a western limit still to define). The species prefers the stony and very sunny environments, until approximately 1000 meters above sea level. Its flowering, less beautiful than that one of the Bellflower isophylla, is however a bright note in places that in May - June are lacking in colours.

Blue Thistle-Bullet (Eclimops ritro L. - COMPOSITAE) Partial protection
It’s a typical subspecies of the Mediterranean regions; in our country it is present from the Maritime Alps and from Emilia to all the peninsular Italy. In Liguria it is present in not many places, from the neighbourhood of Albenga to the French border, until approximately 1000 meters above sea level; it blooms between the second half of June and the end of July. It’s a spiny beautiful plant, often used in withered floral compositions. The leaves are dark green on top, and white underneath, for the presence of a dense and white duvet; the inflorescence is a blue- violaceous, very regular sphere.

Droséra Rosrlida (Droséra rotundifolia L. - DROSERACEAE) Total protection.
Small, carnivorous plant, inhabitant of peat bogs and marshes, present in Italy on the Alps and the northern Apennine. In Liguria it can be found in marshes of the Group of Voltri and the Alta Val d' Aveto (it’s famous the Oriented Reserve of the Agoraie). The Drosera supplies with nitrogen, drawing it from the body of small animal preys. The flowering is not striking and take place in July.

Ovoid Cornflower (Coniferous leuzea L DC. - COMPOSITAE) Total protection
It’s a typical species of the western Mediterranean region. In Italy it can be found in the southern Piemonte, in the western Liguria (from Capo Noli to the French border), in Tuscany, Sicily and Sardinia. In Liguria the Cornflower grows until approximately 1000 meters above sea level, in hilly and submontane, sunny, barren and stony meadowlands, and blooms in June and July. It’s a species of the ancient Mediterranean Cainozoic flora.

Fiteuma of Balbis (Phyteuma cordatum Balbis - CAMPANULACEAE) Total protection
This Fiteuma is endemic of the Ligurian and Maritime Alps, discovered only in an half a dozen of places, among the province of Imperia, that one of Cuneo and the French Alpes-Maritimes. The Fiteuma of Balbis in the hinterland of Bordighera populate the minimal fissures of calcareous cliffs , until the 1600-1900 meters above sea level, blooming between the half of June and that one of July.

Ligurian Gentian (Genziana ligustica Vilm. et Chop. - GENTIANACEAE) Partial protection
The Ligurian gentian is endemic of the Southwest Alps: discovered between the Moncenisio and the M. Carmo di Loano. It has a remarkable ecological amplitude: it grows in the fissures of cliffs, in the mountain and subalpine meadowlands and in the hardwood forests; it blooms between May and July, to between 800 and 2000 meters above sea level. The ligustica Gentian is very similar to other species of small gentian but with gigantic, blue flowers, common on the Alps and the Apennines and deriving from an ancestors, once diffused on mountains of southern Europe. It distinguishes itself by the shape of the sepals, with the characteristic aspect to wide lance tip. The ligustica Gentian is used in order to obtain digestive liqueurs.

Bigger Gentian (Gentiana lutea L. - GENTIANACEAE) Partial protection
The Gentian grows on mountains of southern Europe; it appears in Italy on many alpine and Apennine ranges (the gentian isn’t present in Emilia, Tuscany and Sicily). In Liguria you can find it on the high ridges of the Apennine and in the Ligurian Alps, particularly on the sides exposed in the sun, between 1400 and 2000 meters; it blooms between the end of June and the end of July. It has a very deep and big rhizome (it can graze 2 meters of height), used in the spirits industry. The Gentian is diffused as weed in the mountain and subalpine meadowlands, also because it’s refused from the cattle. It can be confused with the white hellebore (Veratrum Album L.), that causes to mortal poisonings.

Rustic Gentianella (Gentianella campestris L. Bórner - GENTIANACEAE) Partial protection
It’s an European species, present in Italy on the Alps and the northern and central Apennine. In Liguria it is found on several Apennine and alpine ranges. It is small and has delicate, violet small flowers; the Gentianella is diffused with many exemplary and always on small surfaces.

Gentianella of Spring (Gentiana verna L. - GENTIANACEAE) Partial protection
The Gentianella lies in the European and Asiatic ranges. In Italy it is present on the Alps and the northern and central Apennine. It can be found frequently on the high summits of the Ligurian Alps and sporadic on the high Apennine ranges. It prefers the mountain and subalpine meadowlands, from 1500 to 2200 meters above sea level, where it blooms between June and July. Often many small stalks of Gentiana Verna grow nearby, causing compact pads of an intense blue. It is used in order to prepare digestive spirits.

Gramìneo Iris (Irís graminea L. - IRIDACEAE) Partial protection
The Iris is a species diffused particularly in South-eastern Europe; in Italy it grows in the northern regions, in Tuscany and Marche; in Liguria it has been found only in some areas of the Genoese Apennine, in stony submontane meadowlands, between 600 and 1100 meters, in which blooms from half June to the beginning of July. It has rather deep rhizomes and it forms spots rather rich of exemplars.

Tyrrhenian Iris (Iris chamaeiris Bertol. - IRIDACEAE) Partial protection
It’s a typical species of the western northern regions of the Mediterranean basin. In Italy it can be found along the coasts from the Liguria to the Campania and in the Abruzzi. In our region it is present only in very few areas of the West Riviera, in stony, sunny places, in the spaces, opened from a scanty herbage; it can be found from the sea level until about 800 meters above sea level; the flowering is early (March-May). It’s a rare and valuable representative of the ancient Cainozoic Mediterranean flora.

Papiraceo Narcissus (Narcissus tazzetta L. var. papyraceus (Ker-Gawl.) Flowers - AMARYLLIDACEAE) Partial protection
The narcissus Tazzetta has many intermediate shapes (partly created from the floriculturists and diffused in nature). The Papiraceo Narcissus is singular for the constant presence of the white corolla and for the earliness of the flowering (January- March). It’s localized in the Ligurian territory and grows between the sea level and the 800 meters approximately. The scent is rather weak.

Narcissus Tazzetta (Narcissus tazetta L. - AMARYLLIDACEAE) Partial protection
It’s a species diffused in the Mediterranean region, present in Liguria, Emilia, in peninsular Italy and the bigger islands. It grows in the hilly and submontane meadowlands, from the sea level until approximately 1000 meters; it blooms between March and May. The dimensions of the perigonium are lower as regard as those that they have in the other species and the inflorescence is richer (until twenty flowers for exemplary). The scent is rather weak.

Daffodil Narcissus (Narcissus pseudonarcissus L. - AMARYLLIDACEAE) Partial protection
The Daffodil is a species of western Europe, present in all Italy but not in Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia. In our region it can be found both on the Apennine and on the Ligurian Alps, in the hilly and mountain meadowlands, between 200 and 1800 meters above sea level. It blooms between March and May. The Daffodil is the narcissus with the brightest colour (but you can find also nearly white exemplars) and with the showiest shape, tied also to the unusual development of the corolla. It’s practically odourless.

Rapontico di Bicknel (Stemmacantha heleniifolia (Godron et Gren.) Dittrich subsp. bicknellii (Briq) Dittrich - COMPOSITAE) Partial protection
It’s an interesting endemism of the Ligurian Alps, it’s until now only in four areas, two in the province of Imperia, and the other two in that one of Cuneo. It is differentiated quite recently from the Stemmacantha heleniifolia, diffused along the alpine chain. It has an hardy radical apparatus, a high stalk also more than a meter and a half, leaves of big dimensions and a gigantic flower-head, producer of a multitude of fruits; it’s diffused in the mountain meadowlands with a rich and deep soil, becoming infesting. It’s an unwelcome guest for the peasants and the highlanders, than ate the unripe flower-heads in oil or pickled, like small artichokes.

Ligurian Romùlea (Romùlea ligustica Parl. - IRIDACEAE) Total protection
The distribution of this species is extremely characteristic: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Sardinia, Corsica, Sestri Ponente (in the valley of the Mulinassi). A small dwarf plant with great flowers that bloom only in full sun.

House-leek of Alloní (jovibarba allionii (jordan et Fourr.) D.A. Webb - CRASSULACEAE) Total protection
It forms on the soil rosettes of succulent leaflets, rich of water, from which come off small stalks that lead to the apex an inflorescence of yellow flowers, delicately fringed. It’s diffused along the western alpine arc, recently it has been found also in Carinzia. In Liguria it is very rare: they sporadically appear in the Imperiese end, along the border with France. The House-leek of Allioni prefers the pebbly, rocky and sunny places, over the 1700 meters above sea level, where it blooms in July-August.

Greater House-leek (Sempervivum tectorum L. - CRASSULACEAE) Total protection
It’s a species of southern Europe, present in Italy along the alpine chain, Liguria and the central-southern Apennine. In our region it prefers the arid slopes, also of the immediate hinterland, and often it is on the walls of the "fasce", to peep among the stones with its leaf rosettes. It’s frequent also on the sides south of the Ligurian Alps, until approximately 2000 meters of quota, in which it blooms tardily (July-August). Like all the House-leeks, it has an incredible resistance to extended dryness conditions.

Ragnateloso House-leek (Sempervivum arachnoideum L. - CRASSULACEAE) Total protection
It’s diffused on the mountains of the south-western Europe. In Italy it is along the alpine chain and in the northern and central Apennine. In our region it appears on the higher Apennine summits and the relieves of the Ligurian Alps. It prefers rocky and stony environments, in which it blooms between the end of June and that one of July. The name come from a thick blanket of whitish hairs that covers the top of the very small leaf rosettes: the small plants live into a very packed environment; It adapted itself to win the more extended dryness and the violence of the dried winds.

Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum Cass. - COMPOSITAE) Total protection
It lives on the high mountains of Europe and Asia. In Italy it is present along the alpine chain, until 3000 meters of quota; in Liguria it’s a glacial relict: they lie only on two mounts of the Imperiese. It’s a plant originated in the arid steppes of Asia (the thick hairiness has the meaning of the defence from the excessive transpiration, more than from the cold), migrated on the European mountains in the ice age. It prefers the pastures of high altitude, in which it blooms in the months of July and August.

Bearbind of Capo Hires (Convolvulus sabatius Viv. - CONVOLVULACEAE) Total protection
The Bearbind of Capo Noli had been once marked in different Ligurian areas, from Bordighera to the cape of Portofino: its current presence in spontaneous state is limited to Capo Noli. For the aesthetic value of the blue-violet corolla (yellow in the inner part) and for the facility with which it succeeds to cover areas of arid and barren land with a thick, deep-green carpet of small stalks and leaves, it has been often planted in the garden, sometime escaping and diffusing itself in the neighbourhoods, like along the Aurelia between Camogli and Ruta and in Sicilian and Apulian areas.

Viola Bertolonii
It’s a typical Italian flower of a beautiful bright blue with the darker centre. It’s a typically alpine species: it can be considered a survivor species of the last ice age.