Soldanella

The genus Soldanella consists of about 49 described species that are very similar to each other. Ten of them are native to Europe and endemic to small mountainous areas. They grow well in areas of humid pastures and rocky areas and at altitudes up to 3,000 m. Some of these species flower very early (even before the snow melts) and hardly flower at low altitudes. S. villosa occurs in the western Pyrenees, S. alpina grows wild in all mountain ranges from the Pyrenees to the Italian Apennines and Albania, S. montana is endemic to the mountains of central and southeastern Europe.

Description

They are perennial plants that over time form dense colonies. Its entire, rounded, dark green leaves are arranged in the form of a basal rosette, coriaceous, with long petioles, glandular when young and glabrous when adults. From the basal rosettes the floral scapes of between 5 and 25 cm in height are born with several flowers at the apex of a purplish, pink or blue color. These have a corolla larger than the calyx, generally bell-shaped, with 5 apical lobes that are divided into thinner petals. The fruit, in the form of a capsule, has an operculum that comes off when it matures.

Taxonomy

The genus was described by Carlos Linnaeus and published in Species Plantarum 1: 144. 1753. The type species is: Soldanella alpina

Selected species

Soldanella alpina
Soldanella austriaca
Soldanella carpatica
Soldanella dimoniei
Soldanella hungarica
Soldanella minima
Soldanella montana
Soldanella pindicola
Soldanella pusilla
Soldanella rhodopea
Soldanella villosa