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Arnica montana [Mountain Arnica]


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Rørslett, B. 2014. Arnica montana L. (Asteraceae). Mountain Arnica. Flowers photographed in visible and ultraviolet light. http://www.ultraviol...ountain-arnica/

 

Arnica montana L.

NO: solblom

SE: Slåttergubbe

DK: Almindelig Guldblomme

FI: Etelänarnikki

DE: Berg-Wohlverleih

EN: Mountain Arnica

 

This is a medium tall, around 0.5 m, perennial species with a basal rosette and stout erect stems carrying a few terminal flower heads (capitulae). The capitulum is quite large, often 5 cm across, and the ray florets and disc flowers are a deep golden yellow. A. montana is native to mainland Europe and has a long tradition of being used in folk medicine. The foliage in older times also saw use as a tobacco substitute. It flowers mid to late summer.

 

A. montana is found in open vegetation of dry meadows, often pastures that were cut by hand. Due to a change in agricultural practices it has seen a great reduction in its occurrences now to become an endangered and Red List species.

 

Material photographed at Fet municipality, Southern Norway 5 July 2014. The plants occurred on a road verge and the specimens were surrounded by red markers so they would escape the usual clear-cutting of roadside vegetation conducted in early summer by the road authorities. Nice to see that local governmental agencies do pay attention to actual finds of red-listed species in their region.

 

ARNI_MON_B1407051650_VIS.jpg

Image reference: ARNI_MON_B1407051650_VIS.jpg

Visible light: Nikon Df, Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 125 mm f/2.5 lens, daylight.

 

ARNI_MON_I1407051909_UV.jpg

Image reference: ARNI_MON_I1407051909_UV.jpg

 

ARNI_MON_I1407051991_UV_Rear.jpg

Image reference: ARNI_MON_I1407051991_UV_Rear.jpg

Ultraviolet light: Nikon D3200 (modified), UV-Nikkor 105 mm f/4.5 lens, internal Baader U2" (Venus) filter, SB-140 flash.

 

A. montana exhibits strongly UV-reflective ligules (rays) and very UV-dark disc flowers. Together this produces a strong 'bull's-eye' effect in UV. The rear side of the rays are darker in UV than the front side and the veins are much more prominent. The involucre is UV-dark with false-colour blue areas.

 

[ Published 8 July 2014 ]

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That is so cool that the rare flowers were marked to prevent their getting mowed down !!

 

Are there any conservation efforts to sow seeds of such flowers as this Arnica in order to increase the population ?

 

Question about the Visible foto: Are those lines on the rays or are those grooves (indentations) ?

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The ligules (rays) have deeply sunken nerves. In UV, they come forward by being UV-dark, in particular, on the rear side.

 

Here is an overview of the Arnica montana site. Do note the red markers that signal the presence of a protected species on the road verges. I observed four other patches marked in the same manner in the vicinity and all of them had survived the clear-cutting along the roads occurring everywhere else. So this simple yet efficient protection scheme works. I do not think the rarity of this species has come to a level where measures of collecting seeds and actively sowing these to new sites have been suggested. However, such steps have been taken for Norwegian occurrences of Drymocallis rupestris and Cirsium acaulis, perhaps with other species as well.

 

ARNI_MON_B1407051613_VIS.jpg

 

(the yellow composite flower to the left, outside the left-hand marker, is goldenrod Solidago virg-aurea).

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