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Agropyron brandzae Pantu et Solacolu Pir brandza
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This beautiful xeric graminean steppe species was firstly discovered in Dobrudja and it is one of the most typical west Pontic elements.Pictures taken from Capul Dolojman natural reservation area, Tulcea county on 8th of August 2006. A lot of them focuses on comparison between Agropyrin brandzae and Agropyron cristatum ssp. pectinatum. The two taxa though have clear different ecological features meet one each other frequently without any intergrading so they are different species not subspecies as in the formal opinion of Flora Europaea. Therefore we agree with the opinion of the Romanian authors i.e. Ciocarlan (2000) that this is an independent species. However the indication in the same keybook that the species would be a local endemic of the Alah-Bair natural reservation area, Constanta county seems not to be true, the species is much widespread in west Pontic areas on dry rocks in Romania, Bulgaria and Odessa region. However in the same work cited above it is said that Agropyron brandzae Pantu et Solacolu is an intensely glaucous pruinose plant with short auriculae attached to the ligula which never get overimposed and the sheath of the sterile shoots glabrous on its external side, while Agropyron ponticum Nevski is a purely green non-pruinose plant with long auriculae attached to the ligula which can overlap and the sheath of the sterile shoots is ciliate on its external side. Thus the conclusion would be that Agropyrin brandzae is a very local endemic of Allah Bair area while Agropyron ponticum is the species widespread on the rocks of Dobrudja. However the latter species in the Flora Europaea database is endemic to Krym peninsula while Agropyron brandzae is the taxon widespread in the west Pontic region. We were not aware at the time we made the photographs about this dispute but we can see in one of the images here presented that the plant photographed at Dolojman Cape is intensely glaucous. Further studies upon a lot of populations from the rock dry vegetation of Dobrudja are needed to solve this problem. Capul Dolojman, Tulcea county, August 2006 dr. Alexandru Badarau, alexandru@transsilvanica.com
This is a comparison between the xeric saxicole species Agropyron brandzae (to the left) and the steppe grassland xeric element Agropyron cristatum ssp. pectinatum (to the right) in order not to mistake one for the other.
This is a comparison between the xeric saxicole species Agropyron brandzae (to the left) and the steppe grassland xeric element Agropyron cristatum ssp. pectinatum (to the right) in order not to mistake one for the other.
This is a comparison between the xeric saxicole species Agropyron brandzae (to the left) and the steppe grassland xeric element Agropyron cristatum ssp. pectinatum (to the right) in order not to mistake one for the other.
This is a comparison between the xeric saxicole species Agropyron brandzae (to the left) and the steppe grassland xeric element Agropyron cristatum ssp. pectinatum (to the right) in order not to mistake one for the other.
This is a comparison between the xeric saxicole species Agropyron brandzae (to the left) and the steppe grassland xeric element Agropyron cristatum ssp. pectinatum (to the right) in order not to mistake one for the other.
This is a comparison between the xeric saxicole species Agropyron brandzae (to the left) and the steppe grassland xeric element Agropyron cristatum ssp. pectinatum (to the right) in order not to mistake one for the other.
In the picture above you can clearly see that the plant from Dolojman Cape is not green but intense glaucous-pruinose despite the high degree of withering due to the late summer taking of the picture.
Picture from Cotu Vaii area, Constanta county taken on 7th of August 2006
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