Image of Verbascum chaixii ssp. austriacum

Description:

Slo.: avstrijski lunik - syn.: Verbascum austriacum Roem. & Schult - Habitat: abandoned alpine pasture partly overgrown with bushes; moderately inclined foot of a mountain, southeast aspect; calcareous, skeletal, colluvial ground, sparsely overgrown with grasses; sunny, dry and warm place; elevation 615 m (2.020 feet); average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7-9 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. Comment: Taxonomic status of Verbascum chaixii spp. austriacum is not yet agreed upon. Most sources consider it as a subspecies of Verbascum chaixii s.lat. (a parallel to Verbascum chaixii spp. chaixii), some treat it on species level. This East European plant can be over one meter tall.Species Verbascum chaixii spp. austriacum has a few traits, which make its identification among (other twelve Verbascum species growing in Slovenia) not difficult. Ground leaves are stalked and cuneate (wedge-shaped, tapering to a point at the base) with crenate (not sharply toothed) edge, stalk leaves are lanceolate, all stamens in a flower are of equal length and shape and are conspicuous hairy. Hairs are violet and bearing noticeably thicker ends like a kind of glands (see picture no.9). Sometimes and superficially the plant looks very similar to much more common Dark mullein (Verbascum nigrum). However the latter has no 'glands' on stamens' hairs and its ground leaves are cordate (heart-shaped, with the notch) or at least rounded at the base. Also flowers stalks are longer (5-12 mm), while flowers of Verbascum chaixii spp. austriacum have only 3-5 mm long stalks.Herbarium: Herbarij Biolokega Intituta Jovan Hadi, SRC ZASU, Index Herbariorum LJS.Ref.:(1) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora fr sterreich, Liechtenstein und Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 722.(2) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 549. (3) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 2., Haupt (2004), p 194.