In Sardinia, a new plant has been identified: it grows only near springs

It grows in the Tacchi region of Sarcidano and Ogliastra and only near springs and rocks of a carbonate nature that drip: in Sardinia a new plant species has been identified, now described and illustrated in a scientific article published in the prestigious "Nordic Journal of Botany”.

The research bears the signature of the team of Salvatore Brullo, full professor of Botany at the University of Catania, and describes a perennial herbaceous plant with a splendid blue-lilac bloom.

"The new species", we read in the article which identifies it for the first time and assigns it the scientific name of Solenopsis bachettae, " is dedicated to Gianluigi Bacchetta, professor of Botany at the University of Cagliari and a great expert on Sardinian flora" .

Bacchetta is also director of the Botanical Garden of Cagliari: «I am particularly happy and grateful to Professor Brullo, one of my teachers», he comments, «because it is not common for a teacher to dedicate the name of a plant to a pupil».

The researchers who identified and gave the plant its name speak of a species at risk of extinction due to its small range, the small number of individuals and the fragility of the humid ecosystems in which it is found, underlining the need for particular attention and protect.

The population of Solenopsis rodtae is in fact estimated at around one thousand individuals fragmented into various small sub-populations. Being a plant closely linked to wetlands, its survival is threatened above all by anthropic alterations of the waters, such as water withdrawals or reclamation operations.

"With Professor Brullo we saw this species together for the first time in 2003", says Bacchetta, "while we were studying the temporary ponds of Sardinia: from that day we began to collect herbarium materials in many areas of the Mediterranean to carry out a comparative study which has now borne fruit.

(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)