Bellevalia sarmatica
Bellevalia sarmatica (Georgi) Woronow
Bellevalia ciliata auct. bulg.4
Liliaceae – Lily family
Conservation status. Critically Endangered [CR B1ac(iv)+2ac(iv)]. BDA.
Morphology and biology. Herbaceous perennial. Bulb with a membranous tunic. Leaves 3–7, basal, linear-spathulate, shorter than the inflorescence, with ciliate margin. Inflorescences 25–50 cm, ovoid to conical, with 40–80 flowers, pedicels of the lower flowers 30–80 mm. Flowers 7–9 mm, campanulate, dirty violet, becoming grey brown later. Infructescence wide-conical, the pedicels horizontal. Fruit a capsule. Fl. V–VI, fr. VII. Insect pollination. Reproduction by seeds.
Habitats and populations. Open stony limestone terrains, in xerophytic communities with the participation of steppe elements (Stipion lessingianae Soó). The area of occupancy of the populations, observed after 1990, in the region of the Kaliakra natural reserve, is less than 0.5 ha. Extreme fluctuations have been observed in successive years in one of the subpopulation (20–600 individuals).
Distribution in Bulgaria. Black Sea coast (northern – between Balchik town and Rusalka resort); below 100 m alt.
General distribution. Bulgaria, Rumania, Ukraine.
Threats. Restricted distribution range and extreme fluctuation in number of individuals in the population. No data for other threats because of the insufficient knowledge about the species.
Conservation measures taken. Protected species by the Biodiversity Act. The known population is in Kaliakra Strict Nature Reserve and in a site of the European ecological network Natura 2000 in Bulgaria.
Conservation measures needed. Monitoring of the known population (especially the fluctuations); searches for other populations; studies of the biology and ecology of the species and threats; collection of seeds for the National Seed Genebank in Bulgaria.
Note. Berg et al. (1989) consider B. ciliata (Cyr.) Nees, B. sarmatica and B. speciosa Woronow as conspecific, for which the name B. ciliata has the priority.
References. Prodan 1939; Heywood 1980; Berg et al. 1989; Delipavlov 1998; Petrova, Venkova & Gerasimova 2002.
Author: Antoaneta Petrova
