Читать книгу Walking in Italy's Stelvio National Park. Italy's largest alpine national park онлайн

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Seemingly barren rock surfaces host myriad coloured lichen, which prepare the surface for hardy cushion plants such as the efficient ‘rock breaker’ saxifrage, with penetrating roots and tiny delicate blooms. Among the first flowers to appear on the edge of the snow line is the dainty fringed blue-violet alpine snowbell. The heat it releases as it breaks down carbohydrates actually melts the snow. Another early bloom is the perfumed sticky primrose, with petite clusters of deep purple. A lover of siliceous scree, the white or rarer pink glacier crowfoot grows close to glaciers, hence its name. The leaf cells contain a rich fluid that acts as an antifreeze.

Elsewhere, stony grasslands with calcareous soil (from limestone or dolomite) are ideal for delicate, sweet-scented yellow Rhaetian poppies. Often found growing nearby are white star-shaped edelweiss, their leaves equipped with fine felt-like hairs which trap heat. Rocky terrain is also the home of the gentian, which comes as a gorgeous blue trumpet or tiny iridescent stars; there is also a showy yellow-spotted type and delicate mauve varieties in autumn. Eye-catching alpine moon daisies are a common sight on rock-strewn slopes, which they share with clumps of golden leopard’s bane and spidery creeping avens. Common alongside marshy lakes is fluffy white cotton grass, while purple or white insectivorous butterwort is found in damp places, often near streams. Pasture slopes and alpine meadows straight out of The Sound of Music are dotted with exquisite wine-red martagon lilies, delicate columbines and the tiny triangular-headed black vanilla orchids, which smell of cocoa. Flower picking is of course strictly forbidden.