DOLOMITES - Annexes 2-8 - Provincia di Udine

NOMINATION OF THE DOLOMITES FOR INSCRIPTION ON THE WORLD NATURAL HERITAGE LIST UNESCO
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in the Piccolo Dolomiti in the pre-Alpine area, of the Primula recubariensis (1998). Some doubts
remain as regards the actual taxonomic consistency of Nigritella buschmanniae (1996), discovered
in the Dolomiti di Brenta and Gymnadenia (actually, this is a Nigritella of the same group of the
buschmanniae) dolomitensis (Dolomite- vanilla orchid), described in 1998 and identified in the area
of Col Becchei, Passo di Limo / Limojoch and Colli Alti / Hochalm near Braies / Prags. Also mentionable
are the cases, not remote, of Draba dolomitica (1969) and Festuca austrodolomitica (1995).
In the Carnia Prealps, an area equally well-known and valued for its flora, with a fairly large number
of endemic or disconnected taxa, Pinguicula poldinii was described in 2001, found on humid cliffs,
a species presumably widespread farther west on the pre-Alpine and external Dolomite slopes. The
flora legacy and endemic Dolomite species including the valley floor, which is abundant in Sinanthropic
species, and well-naturalized exotic varieties, the Dolomite vascular flora can count some
2,400 types of plant life. Among these, the endemic plants, namely the plants whose range of distribution
is limited to a well-defined and more or less narrow area, are the ones that characterise and
sum up the biocenosis and sinecological significance better than others. Due to the effects of glacier
movement, the Dolomites can in no way be considered a territory abundant in endemic plants, despite
the fact that its flora holds exceptional biogeographic importance for the total number of species
and the presence of rare varieties, disconnected or strongly localized entities, or varieties located
at the edge of the distributional area. If we exclude the critical groups still imperfectly known (e.g.
Festuca, or the recently discovered Nigritella) and the apomictic species of several genuses (Alchemilla,
Rubus, Hieracium, Taraxacum), we can consider endemic Dolomite species (often with a distribution
range at the boundary areas) in the classical sense the following seven species:
– Campanula morettiana Rchb.
– Primula tyrolensis All.
– Sempervivum dolomiticum Facch. (Dolomitic houseleek)
– Rhizobotrya alpina Tausch
– Saxifraga facchinii Koch
– Saxifraga depressa (Ampere) Sternb.
– Draba dolomitica Buttler
We should also note the existence of endemic subspecies or varieties which are still frequently identified
by adjectives dolomitica, dolomiticum or dolomitensis. The sphere of the nominated property
also encompasses sectors that, on a geographic level, are not necessarily in the Dolomites but can be
included in it due to the landscape and to bio-geographical reasons. Among these, in particular, are
the Carnia Prealps (Dolomiti Friulane - Dolomitis Furlanis), which are doubtless among the most
important sectors of the Alpine arc in terms of the flora. Among the most representative types are
the following:
– Arenaria huteri
– Gentiana froehlichi subsp. zenariae