Aquilegia grata

Pleasant columbine (Aquilegia grata )

The Pleasant columbine (Aquilegia grata ), also Dinaric mauve Columbine, Пријатна кандилка ( serb ), called Prijatni pakujac ( kroat. ), a plant of the family Ranunculaceae is ( Ranunculaceae ). The Pleasant Columbine is currently detected only from the Orjen Mountains of Montenegro. It is protected in their home country as a rare species.

Description

Appearance and leaf

The Pleasant Columbine is a perennial, herbaceous plant, the plant height usually 15 to 30, rarely reaching up to 45 centimeters. The growing from the middle of the loose leaf rosette, erect stem is glandular - hairy sticky fluffy ( trichome ). A characteristic feature is the pubescence of leaves and stems of the plant. Both the front and back sides of the leaves is covered with fine hair.

The leaves are hairy on both sides glandular. The basal leaves are divided into a long petioles and petiole. The to 10 inches long leaf blade of basal leaves is twice in three parts, and, like the stem leaves glandular hairy, silvery green on the top and on the bottom. The upper stem leaves are in three pieces with more linealischen sections; they are also densely glandular hairy.

Inflorescence and flower

The flowering period extends from May to June. In racemose inflorescences are three to five, sometimes more flowers on long stalks. The first somewhat nodding, later upright, spurred, bell-shaped flowers are radial symmetry and fünfzählig with a diameter of 3 to 5 centimeters. The bloom are light blue to pale violet and the fading of red ( purple) form temporarily. The five kronblattartigen bracts are up to 3 inches long and up to 1.1 inches wide. The nectar leaves are up to 3 inches long; the spur is at a length of 1.4 to 2 inches straight or slightly curved, thickened like the head at the end and a dark color and much longer than the leaves of the nectaries. The numerous stamens are long and rich 5 millimeters above the leaves of the nectaries addition.

However, the flowers can also be reddish, purple or red colored. The color of the petals at the lower end may extend from rotviolettblau to white. The former variant is Orjen (Montenegro ), the latter in the predominant distribution area (eastern Bosnia, western Serbia, Northwest Montenegro) spread. The stamens emerge in Aquilegia grata well above the petals.

The per flower five to ten glandular hairy follicles ( folliculus ) contain many seeds. The seeds are dark and shiny.

Chromosome number

In Aquilegia grata is diploidy before and has the chromosome number 2n = 14

Occurrence and risk

The Pleasant Columbine is widespread in the Southeastern - subadriatischen Dinarides in Orjen Mountains on the western Balkan Peninsula. More often she is there gora especially in thermophilic beech-fir forests of the Bijela. Here the Pleasant Columbine was also found on slopes of Pazua in moist, coarse boulders at the edge of fir-beech forests ( Dinaric karst blockfields - fir forest ). It is also locally in moist north-facing slopes of the Bijela gora often along forest edges. It occurs in the edge region of hedges, dry and semi- dry grasslands and in the hem area of meadows. It thrives on moderately dry to moderately moist soils that are nutrient -and base- rich and thereby prefers calcareous subsoil. The sunnier the location, the fresher the ground should be.

The Pleasant Columbine is a rare, since endemic species, which is known as paläoendemisches relic only a few locations. It is in their area of ​​distribution under protection.

Botanical history

The first description of including the collection in 1864 by Franz de Paula Maly came from the OrjenGebirge where they Gora is limited to the range of Bijela. In the castle garden of the Upper Belvedere Franz Maly used this columbine over several years and gave her the epithet not published by him grata, as he left his previous guess the specimens in the Bijela gora found among Aquilegia kitaibelii not found confirmed. 1875 took over Albert Zimmeter Maly's nomination and wrote the protologue of the Article Zimmeter but found similarities between Maly's Columbine, and one of Josif Pančić 1864 on the Mokra Gora found in western Serbia Columbine, the first Pančić erroneously found as belonging Aquilegia thalictrifolia. Zimmeter associated it in the protologue to the Collections of columbines Aquilegia grata from the middle Drinaeinzugsgebiet with those in the Mediterranean-colored karst mountains of the Adriatic coast. However, because Franz Maly's material was the only thing that came from the type locality and the columbine to grata made ​​from the sub-continental beech forests of Bosnia and Serbia significant morphological differences show (including the two-tone petals ), the exact assignment of Aquilegia grata remained long unklar.Zwischenzeitlich were the specimens that were in error to A. grata spun off as Aquilegia nikolicii .. the specific epithet is derived from the Latin for gratus grateful pleasant from.