Ivana Vitasović Kosić

Mountain Matokit and Vrgorac city: a new localities of threatened and invasive plant taxa in Croatia.

This paper is first inventarisation of threatened and invasive vascular plants on the rocky grasslands situated on northern slopes of mountain Matokit and abandoned arable land in vicinity of town of Vrgorac. These sites represent a new site for the Croatian flora. This research was conducted in year 2010 and 2011. We found 11 species of threatened vascular plants that by the Red Book (Nikolic and Topic [14]) and Flora Croatica Database (Nikolic [13]) and 15 invasive species, according to preliminary list of invasive alien species (IAS) in Croatia (Borsic et al. [3]). In this paper the habitat of some species, their distribution in Croatia, life forms and floral elements are described. It was found that threatened species occur exclusively on the rocky grassland habitat, except two species: critically endangered (CR) Papaver argemone and endangered (EN) Hibiscus trionum which were recorded on arable land. All inventoried invasive species, were recorded at the abandoned arable land, except the species Robinia pseudoacacia. Tendency for uncontrolled spread showed species Ailanthus altissima and Ambrosia artemisiifolia. Habitats of rocky grassland are on the stage of secondary succession (healing with the forest), and on the arable land the spread of invasive species exist (due to socio-economic changes: abandonment of agriculture and animal husbandry, and depopulation of the population). The results of these studies are contribution to the distribution map of threatened and invasive species in Croatia, and to the conservation of grassland habitat study area, as well as to preventing of the spread of invasive species.

Using Ellenberg-Pignatti values to estimate habitat preferences of wild food and medicinal plants: an example from northeastern Istria (Croatia)

BackgroundThe paper presents the first ethnobotanical application of Ellenberg indicator values, which are widely used in European plant ecology. The aim of the study was to find out if Ellenberg values (indicating habitat preferences) differ for wild food and medicinal plants used in north-eastern Istria (Croatia). We used Ellenberg-Pignatti values (the version of Ellenberg values used in this part of Europe).MethodsFifty semi-structured interviews were carried out among local key informants, asking which wild food and medicinal plants they used.ResultsThe mean number of food and medicinal plants mentioned per interview was 30. Altogether, 121 species were recorded as food or medicine used or previously used in the study area. Thirty-one species are used exclusively as food or everyday drink, 50 species are used exclusively as medicine and 40 species are used for both food and medicine. There were no significant differences between Ellenberg values for food and medicinal plants, apart from the Nitrogen indicator value – the plants used exclusively as food had a significantly higher index than those used in medicine. This probably stems from the fact that plants with soft fleshy shoots are attractive as food and they are more likely to come from nitrogen-rich ruderal habitats.ConclusionsFood plants and medicinal plants are collected from a variety of habitats and no clear difference between the two categories of plants was detected, however further testing of Ellenberg values in ethnobotanical studies could be interesting.