10. FLORA OF THE AREA

4.3 ——

FLORA

The importance for the territory

Cantone

Ticino Location Lugano, Melide, Paradiso Surface 215 ha

Ticino is the region with the richest vegetation in Switzerland with a Mediterranean flora consisting of camellias, magnolias, and azaleas, but also palms, mimosas, oranges, and lemons. There are plenty of vineyards, especially fine varieties of Merlot grapes, chestnut, hazelnut, and walnut reign in the valleys, up to the conifers of the Alpine region, with beech, oak, and pine forests.

The slopes of Mount San Salvatore present dense broad-leaved woods along with carbonate rocks. These forests consist of Fraxino orni-Ostryetum, big xerophilous ostrieti with ash, downy oak, and oak, mainly Quercion pubescenti-petraeae. They have a discontinuous tree layer exclusive to dry calcareous environments. There are also thermophilic mixed forests on detrital soil in lime like Tilion and insubric beech forests on limestone such as Cardamino-Fagetum insubricum which usually occupy deeper and less alkaline soils.

Nonetheless the major naturalistic peculiarities with steep and rocks are concentrated on the eastern side and are inaccessible to human. This environment presents dry meadows and pastures which reached national importance through history due to the arid and semi-arid Middle-European grasslands with Forasacco (Xero- and Mesobromion).

Among the most characteristic plants of these xerothermophilous areas, there are the Creeping Widow (Lomelosia graminifolia) and the Eliantemo of Apennini (Helianthemum apenninum), two rare and exclusive species of the Sottoceneri. The alternation of natural environments open and wooded also gives the mountain the possibility to host a rich fauna, especially reptiles.

Concerning the rocky environments, mainly characterized by low-altitude limestone plateaus with coverage plant (Alysso-Sedion), they provide a diversification of the mountain slope and provide a suitable habitat for malacofauna, represented by a large number of rare species such as the terrestrial rock mollusk Chondrina megacheilos, in danger of extinction. On the natural shores of the lake, there is a wide colonization of aquatic vegetation with the most popular plant of Potamion [9].