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

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Plants and flowers

Thanks to the variety of terrains and habitats it encompasses – from low-lying meadows through woods and scrub to high-altitude rock and icescapes – the Stelvio offers an incredible range of alpine plant life and some interesting examples of adaptation to harsh environments.

The vast forests cloaking mid-altitude slopes are mostly conifer, dominated by the Arolla pine. This relies on the industrious nutcracker for its survival, as the voracious – and forgetful – bird hoards kernels in secluded rock crannies where the trees sprout and grow. Another coniferous tree seen throughout the park is the larch, which has lacy fronds; it is the only conifer to lose its needles in autumn. Its common companions are bushes of miniature rhododendrons or alpenrose with pink blooms, a delight in July. Scree slopes, on the other hand, are colonised by the hardy dwarf mountain pine, with springy branches that trap the snow.

1) Autumn gentian; 2) Gorgeous tiny gentians; 3) Leopard’s bane