Artemisia eriantha
Artemisia eriantha Ten.
Artemisia petrosa (Baumg.) Fritsch1, 4
Asteraceae – Daisy family
Conservation status. Endangered [EN B1ab(ii,iii,v)+2ab(ii,iii); C2a(i)]. IUCN(V), BDA. Glacial relic.
Morphology and biology. Caespitose perennial. Rhizome semi-woody. Plant with numerous sterile rosettes. Stems 8–20 cm, ascending to erect, grey to silver grey green, sericeous-tomentose. Lower cauline leaves and those of sterile rosettes 2-, rarely 3-ternate, greyish white to greyish green, lanate. Cauline leaves sessile, entire or pinnatifid. Capitula up to 5 mm in diameter, hemispherical, in a simple, loose raceme; the lower shortly pedunculate, nodding when mature, the upper nearly sessile; bracts pinnatifid to entire. Involucral bracts appressed hairy to lanate; the outer with a narrow, light brown apex, the inner with broad dark brown apex. Florets 25–50; corolla densely hairy, especially above; achenes semicylindrical, hairy. Fl. VII–IX, fr. IX–XI. Wind pollination. Reproduction by seeds and rhizome shoots.
Habitats and populations. Grows on rocks and rock crevices, stony, grassy slopes in the subalpine belt. Populations are relatively small, fragmented and with restricted area. Participates in plant communities on rocks together with Leontopodim alpinum subsp. nivale, Sesleria korabensis, Papaver degenii, Campanula cochlearifolia, Armeria alpina, Alyssum cuneifolium subsp. pirinicum, etc.
Distribution in Bulgaria. Balkan Range (Central – on the calcareos rocks on the northern slopes of Mazalat peak), Pirin Mts (Northern – on calcareous grounds between the Banderitsa river valley and Razlozhki Suhodol locality, and more rarely on silicate rocks – Todorka peak and in the Demyanitsa river valley), Rila Mts (on calcareous rocks in N and NW Rila Mts); from 1880 up to 2800 m alt.
General distribution. S and C Europe (Pyrenees, SW Alps, C Apennines, the Carpathians, mountains of the Balkan Peninsula).
Threats. Small and isolated populations; low reproductive potential; trampling by tourists.
Conservation measures taken. The species is protected by the Biodiversity Act. The localities are within the borders of Rila and Pirin National Parks and in sites of the European ecological network Natura 2000 in Bulgaria; some occurrences of the species are within Bayuvi Dupki – Dzhindzhiritsa Strict Nature Reserve.
Conservation measures needed. Monitoring of the populations and collection of seeds for the National Seed Genebank in Bulgaria.
References. Bozhilova & Tonkov 1984; Kuzmanov 1984a; Stoyanov 2008.
Author: Chavdar Gussev
