Native Plants

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A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Sunday - August 09, 2009

From: Glenwood Springs, CO
Region: Rocky Mountain
Topic: Non-Natives, Herbs/Forbs
Title: Native flowers of Italy from Glenwood Springs, CO
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

My son is dating an Italian girl. Could you just tell me some native flowers of Italy, so he can send her some flowers?

ANSWER:

That's very thoughtful of you and your son. However, at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center we are committed to the care, propagation and protection of flowers native to North America and to the area in which they are being grown. So, of course, our Native Plant Database would contain nothing for Italy.

Somewhat to our surprise, a similar question was asked of Mr. Smarty Plants nearly 4 years ago. We don't know if this is the kind of help you need, but maybe it will get you started in the right direction.

"You can find a list of web sites that show Italian flora in various regions of Italy in the "Links" on the Flora of Varesotto web page. From the The Department of Biology of the University of Trieste you can find Illustrated Keys to the Italian flora on line. These are interactive keys for plants in several areas of Northern Italy. You can find a description of the natural environment, the vascular plants, and the fungi of Sicily from the University of Catania.

Most of the internet sites shown above are in Italian, although some have English versions. The botanical names in Latin remain the same, of course.

If you are looking for checklists for a particular area, you might also try contacting someone doing research into the flora of Italy, such as the faculty at the Department of Biology at the University of Trieste."