Bulbocodium vernum a spring
forest-steppe saffron closely related to the much diverse and
widespread genus Colchicum
L. is a meadow-steppe species with a
curious range being spread in the meadow-steppe grasslands from the
Pannonian and Transylvanian Basins and in the forest-steppes north
from the Black Sea. In the Alps, Pyrennes and in the Apeninnes the
species can be found at higher altitudes in subalpine or boreal
grasslands. Such an ecological vicariance can be found also in many
other species like Iris ruthenica in Romania or in the
closely related couple Scutellaria supina - Scutellaria
alpina throughout Eurasia. It seems to be a legation of the
last glacial ages when the steppe grasslands and the subapline /
alpine ones were in close contact without being separated by
forestry belts as they are now in Europe and Eastern Asia (and yet
they are in close contact in the mountains of Central Asia).
The remained populations from Romania and
Transylvania are very weak and most of them reminiscent, with the
yet notable exception of the ones north from Cluj-Napoca (Fanatele
Clujului area). Some of them (Podu Oprei in Moldavia and Valea lui
Mihai in the Romania's part of the Pannonian Basin) are from a long
time not searched.
The population from Fanatele Clujului -
Coparsae
The population from Fanatele Clujului -
Margau Hill
The population from Fanatele Clujului -
Craiu
The population from Bontida - Visea
The population from Boju-Straja Mare
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