Contributo Allo Studio Sistematico ed Ecologico Della Luzula Calabra Ten. dell'Altipiano Silano

Abstract

Contribution to the systematics and ecology of LUZULA CALABRA Ten. of the Silan highland (Calabria, Southern Italy). — The Luzula calabra Ten. represents a known type endemic to the Silan highland.

Some authors regard it as a species in itself, others include it as a variety in the Luzula campestris Lam. et DC. cycle.

Therefore, in view of the fact that the systematic value of this entity has not yet been well defined and that it is not always easy to succeed in attributing isolated specimens to the Luzula calabra Ten., and all the more because information relating to the environment in wich the plant lives is scant and not always reliable, the intention of this work has been to specify, by biometric analysis, the fundamental characteristic of the Luzula calabra Ten., and furthermore to give and adequate picture of the environment in wich the plant lives.

The resultats of statistical analysis and the diagrams ottained show how the Luzula calabra Ten. offers a particular physiognomy of its own and how it stands out from the others in the Luzula campestris cycle.

The environment in wich the plant completes its life cycle is shown in a series of areas in the Silan marshes, occupied by various vegetal groups folloving one another regularly from the wettest part to the driest wich is populated by the Nardus stricta L. and the Festuca rubra asperifolia St. Yves.

In Sila the presence of two Luzule of the Luzula campestris cycle is identified: the Luzula calabra Ten., wich must be considered almost surely as a species in itself, and the Luzula campestris Lam. et DC. ssp. vulgaris Buchen; on the other hand, the presence of the Luzula campestris Lam. et DC. ssp. multiflora Buchen is thought unlikely, and this is considered to be a form peculiar to high pasture-lands of the strictest alpine-mountain type.