VOLUM OMAGIAL - Facultatea de Ştiinţe ale Naturii şi Ştiinţe Agricole

Ovidius University Annals of Natural Sciences, Biology – Ecology Series Volume 14, 2010
FLORISTIC ASPECTS OF THE HILLS OF CAMENA VILLAGE
(TULCEA COUNTY)
Marius FĂGĂRAŞ
Ovidius University of Constanţa, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Department of Biology and
Ecology, Mamaia Blvd, No. 124, 900527, Constanţa, Romania, fagarasm@yahoo.com
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Abstract: This paper presents the flora on the hills in the vicinity of Camena locality. These hills have volcanic
origin and are located in the south-east of the Babadag plateau. The hilly landscape with spectacular rock
formations, the substrate made up of acidic volcanites and the climate specific to the forest steppe are the main
factors that determined the variety of the vegetation made up of steppe meadows, rock formations, forests and
bushes. The area is characterized by the presence of a considerable number of floral rarities, some endemic,
other rare, vulnerable or endangered at national level. Despite all these, the flora of the area is still little known
as there are no specialized papers. The enumeration of the vascular flora is accompanied by an analysis of the
biological forms, of the floral elements, of the ecological categories, but also of the floral rarities present on
these hills.
Keywords: Camena hills, flora, life forms, floristic elements, ecological categories, rare and threatened flora.
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1. Introduction
The hills of Camena are located south of
Ciucurovei Hills, in the south-east of the Babadag
Plateau, in the vicinity of Camena village (Tulcea
County). They are volcanic hills (Fig. 7), with a
maximum altitude of approx. 190 meters, located at
the southern end of the Peceneaga-Camena crevice
which separates the Northern Dobrogea Plateau
from the Central Dobrogea Plateau. The Hills of
Camena look like a wide saddle framed towards the
north-west and south-east by the hydrographic
basins of two valleys: Camena valley and Ciamurlia
valley. In the southern part of these hills is the
Altan Tepe copper pyrite mine.
The geological layer is made up of rhyolites
(quartz porphyry) of Paleozoic age, volcanic rocks
(acid volcanites) colored in pink-red, reddish-brown
and violet. In the plane zone and on the eroded
inclines, the rhyolites emerge on the surface as
spectacular rock formations. Towards the base of
the hills, the rocks are covered by a layer of loess
(3-4 meters thick). The soils are represented by
chernozem and lithosoils, the latter being present
especially in the rocky zones.
The climate is temperate-continental, with
average annual temperatures of 10.5-11 0 C, while
the average annual precipitations range between
450 and 500 mm/year. As vegetation type, the Hills
of Camena fit within the forest steppe zone. The
vegetation is made up of steppe meadows, rock
vegetation (on the plateaus), thermophile forests
and bushes.
The Hills of Camena represent an area of the
Babadag Plateau which is interesting from the
geological, landscape and botanical point of view,
firstly because of the volcanic origin of the hills, of
the rhyolites disposed as spectacular rock
formations and of the floral rarities which can be
encountered in this area. Despite these, the flora of
these hills is little known and limited to the
quotation of species in older specialized literature
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
2. Material and Methods
The field researches have been done between
years 2008-2010, during the entire vegetation
season in order to cover all the phenology stages.
The plant taxa nomenclature follows the Flora
ilustrată a României. Pteridophyta et
ISSN-1453-1267 © 2010 Ovidius University Press