Fanatele Cojocnei meadow-steppe habitat

This site which was once in the XIXth century one of the main areas studied by the naturalists of Transylvania is now almost forgotten and now well within its way to total destruction

The site was much expanded until the XXth century and much well preserved. The morphology and the landscape encountered here are the most variated and spectacular from all sites on this list. In 1877 G. Wolff wrote about Centaurea ruthenica he encountered here and that Serratula wolffii is abundant in the hayfields around the tunnel of Boju railway station. Though he has known the site since 1987 it was only the year 2005 when Al.S. Badarau accidentaly recovered this species here. Today this species is represented here by a mere 6 individuals and even these are very scattered. in 1987 Serratula lycopifolia was once abundant in the hayfields from the north-western corner of the railway curvature which lies to the north from Boju railway station tunnel, on a large surface. Now this sector is entirely plowed with the exception of a very single belt of hayfield (which now stands quite isolated from the rest of the habitat) entirely surrounded by cropfields. This is now the best preserved area from the whole site with a very and dense large population of S erratula lycopifolia. There is a high risk that the owner of this relic stripe of hayfiled will convert also his patch of land into a cropfield so the intervention is urgent in concerning this case. There is another well preserved patch in the north-westernmost part of the site with a smaller population of Serratula lycopifolia and two relic individuals of Serratula wolffii discovered in 2005. Until the beginning of the XXIst century isolated small patches or individuals of Serratula lycopifolia could be found here and there in the area of the site. Now this happens no more. The tomb mounds which are a certain symbol for the site and form a complex yet unsearched by archeologists are one of the two small sites with reminiscent populations of Bulbocodium vernum from the area. On a small xeric cline not far away from the mounds the rare species Centaurea trinervia is also present.

Unfortunately the site is typical for the evolution of most of the Transylvanian meadow-steppe hayfield areas after the first world war: with the introduction of the sheep grazing during the cold season the structure of the meadow-steppe phytocenoses degraded more and more and the ruderalization becomes accentuated, along with the large invasion of Thinopyron intermedium and Arrhennatherum elatius. Nowadays the grasslands here are grazed even during the winter months. will

The files here 1,2,3 will provide the actual spatial extension of the site on Google Earth that should be immediately placed under protection.