Campanula gelida
Encyclopedia
Campanula gelida is a stenoendemic, critically endangered species
of perennial
bellflower
growing in the mountains of Hrubý Jeseník
in the Czech Republic
. It evolved through specialization of an isolated population of Campanula scheuchzeri, an Alpine
species, which expanded to the area of the Sudetes during a colder period, probably the last ice age
. It is closely related to Campanula bohemica, endemic to the Krkonoše Mountains.
Sometimes it is even considered its subspecies
and referred to as Campanula bohemica subsp. gelida.
They all belong to the group of related species Campanula rotundifolia agg.
is at Peter's Stones in the Praděd
nature reserve
, at an altitude
of 1,438 metres above mean sea level
, where it has to resist low temperatures, wind and snow. It grows on the southern and eastern slopes of the highest rock
of Peter's Stones and in nearby grass vegetation consisting mainly of fescue
, within 10 metres of the foot of the rock. The location is not accessible to the public.
it as its subspecies. Recently, most botanists consider it to be an independent species again.
Campanula gelida can be distinguished from Campanula bohemica especially by its rich tufts, and smaller flower
s and capsules
. Flowers often grow independently or in raceme
s consisting of not more than four flowers. Stem
is not longer than 20 cm. Ground leaves
, forming a rosette
, stay until the plant wilts
.
ground. It prefers sunlit places, but some plants grow in shadow too. The species reproduces mostly vegetatively
, because its possibilities of generative reproduction
are very limited by the climatic
conditions of its location. Flower
s are produced from the middle of July until the end of August. Similarly to other bellflowers, its gynoecium
develops after pollen
has been set free from stamen
s, which prevents self-pollination
.
in the 1970s, at present the population
of the species seems (despite their small number and limited area of occurrence) to have stabilized. Current threats include skiers trespassing in the protected area and expansion of other species including Tufted Hair-grass
, Red Raspberry
and Hypericum maculatum
.
Campanula gelida is on the list of particularly protected plants of the Czech Republic, and thus it is forbidden to be picked, dug or otherwise damaged or disturbed in its development
.
It was also included into the Red List of Endangered Plants of the Czech Republic, category C1 (critically endangered), the IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants
and the Berne
Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats
. Its location was included into the network of protected areas Natura 2000
.
Employees from the Administration of the Jeseníky Protected Landscape Area cultivate the plants in Stará Ves
near Rýmařov
.
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
of perennial
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
bellflower
Campanula
Campanula is one of several genera in the family Campanulaceae with the common name bellflower. It takes its name from their bell-shaped flowers—campanula is Latin for "little bell"....
growing in the mountains of Hrubý Jeseník
Hrubý Jeseník
Hrubý Jeseník is a mountain range of Eastern Sudetes in northern Moravia and Czech Silesia. It is the second highest mountain range in the Czech Republic.Some of the most interesting sights:*Praděd, the highest mountain...
in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
. It evolved through specialization of an isolated population of Campanula scheuchzeri, an Alpine
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
species, which expanded to the area of the Sudetes during a colder period, probably the last ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
. It is closely related to Campanula bohemica, endemic to the Krkonoše Mountains.
Sometimes it is even considered its subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
and referred to as Campanula bohemica subsp. gelida.
They all belong to the group of related species Campanula rotundifolia agg.
Location
The only known occurrence of Campanula gelida in its natural environmentNatural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
is at Peter's Stones in the Praděd
Praded
Praděd is the highest mountain of Hrubý Jeseník mountains and Moravia and Czech Silesia and is fifth highest mountain of Czech Republic.The average annual temperature is about 1°C....
nature reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
, at an altitude
Altitude
Altitude or height is defined based on the context in which it is used . As a general definition, altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The reference datum also often varies according to the context...
of 1,438 metres above mean sea level
Above mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
, where it has to resist low temperatures, wind and snow. It grows on the southern and eastern slopes of the highest rock
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
of Peter's Stones and in nearby grass vegetation consisting mainly of fescue
Fescue
Festuce is a genus of about 300 species of perennial tufted grasses, belonging to the grass family Poaceae . The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, although the majority of the species are found in cool temperate areas...
, within 10 metres of the foot of the rock. The location is not accessible to the public.
Description
Campanula gelida is very similar to its nearest relative Campanula bohemica. Miloslav Kovanda, the first botanist who described Campanula gelida in 1968, later even reclassifiedTaxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
it as its subspecies. Recently, most botanists consider it to be an independent species again.
Campanula gelida can be distinguished from Campanula bohemica especially by its rich tufts, and smaller flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s and capsules
Capsule (fruit)
In botany a capsule is a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. A capsule is a structure composed of two or more carpels that in most cases is dehiscent, i.e. at maturity, it splits apart to release the seeds within. A few capsules are indehiscent, for example...
. Flowers often grow independently or in raceme
Raceme
A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...
s consisting of not more than four flowers. Stem
Plant stem
A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaves, inflorescence , conifer cones, roots, other stems etc. The internodes distance one node from another...
is not longer than 20 cm. Ground leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
, forming a rosette
Rosette (botany)
In botany, a rosette is a circular arrangement of leaves, with all the leaves at a single height.Though rosettes usually sit near the soil, their structure is an example of a modified stem.-Function:...
, stay until the plant wilts
Wilting
Wilting refers to the loss of rigidity of non-woody parts of plants. This occurs when the turgor pressure in non-lignified plant cells falls towards zero, as a result of diminished water in the cells...
.
Growth and reproduction
Campanula gelida usually grows in small fissures of rocky, acidPH
In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...
ground. It prefers sunlit places, but some plants grow in shadow too. The species reproduces mostly vegetatively
Vegetative reproduction
Vegetative reproduction is a form of asexual reproduction in plants. It is a process by which new individuals arise without production of seeds or spores...
, because its possibilities of generative reproduction
Plant sexuality
Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes morphological aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....
are very limited by the climatic
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
conditions of its location. Flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s are produced from the middle of July until the end of August. Similarly to other bellflowers, its gynoecium
Gynoecium
Gynoecium is most commonly used as a collective term for all carpels in a flower. A carpel is the ovule and seed producing reproductive organ in flowering plants. Carpels are derived from ovule-bearing leaves which evolved to form a closed structure containing the ovules...
develops after pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
has been set free from stamen
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
s, which prevents self-pollination
Self-pollination
Self-pollination is a form of pollination that can occur when a flower has both stamen and a carpel in which the cultivar or species is self fertile and the stamens and the sticky stigma of the carpel contact each other in order to accomplish pollination...
.
Endangered species
Although Campanula gelida is critically endangered and was on the edge of extinctionExtinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
in the 1970s, at present the population
Population biology
Population biology is a study of populations of organisms, especially the regulation of population size, life history traits such as clutch size, and extinction...
of the species seems (despite their small number and limited area of occurrence) to have stabilized. Current threats include skiers trespassing in the protected area and expansion of other species including Tufted Hair-grass
Tufted Hair-grass
Deschampsia cespitosa, commonly known as Tufted Hair-grass or Tussock grass is a perennial tufted plant in the grass family Poaceae...
, Red Raspberry
Rubus idaeus
Rubus idaeus is a red-fruited species of Rubus native to Europe and northern Asia and commonly cultivated in other temperate regions. A closely related plant in North America, sometimes regarded as the variety Rubus idaeus var...
and Hypericum maculatum
Hypericum maculatum
Hypericum maculatum Crantz is a species of perennial herbaceous plants in the genus Hypericum, native to Europe and Western Asia and occurring in meadows....
.
Campanula gelida is on the list of particularly protected plants of the Czech Republic, and thus it is forbidden to be picked, dug or otherwise damaged or disturbed in its development
Developmental biology
Developmental biology is the study of the process by which organisms grow and develop. Modern developmental biology studies the genetic control of cell growth, differentiation and "morphogenesis", which is the process that gives rise to tissues, organs and anatomy.- Related fields of study...
.
It was also included into the Red List of Endangered Plants of the Czech Republic, category C1 (critically endangered), the IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
and the Berne
Berne
The city of Bern or Berne is the Bundesstadt of Switzerland, and, with a population of , the fourth most populous city in Switzerland. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 43 municipalities, has a population of 349,000. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000...
Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats
Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats
The Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats 1979, also known as the Bern Convention , came into force on June 1, 1982....
. Its location was included into the network of protected areas Natura 2000
Natura 2000
Natura 2000 is an ecological network of protected areas in the territory of the European Union.-Origins:In May 1992, the governments of the European Communities adopted legislation designed to protect the most seriously threatened habitats and species across Europe. This legislation is called the...
.
Employees from the Administration of the Jeseníky Protected Landscape Area cultivate the plants in Stará Ves
Stará Ves (Bruntál District)
Stará Ves is a village and municipality in Bruntál District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. -References:...
near Rýmařov
Rýmarov
Rýmařov is a town in the Bruntál District, Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic. It has a population of 8,856 as of 25 Mar 2010.- History :...
.