Pietra di Bismantova - vegetation

Accessibility:
From the center of Castelnovo ne' Monti you take the SP 108 and, not far after the cemetery, you continue along the SP 26 that leads to Piazzale Dante, below the Pietra and 5 km from the administrative capital.

Tourist Area
Parco Nazionale dell'Appennino Tosco-emiliano

Grographic Area
Apennines

Notizie Aggiuntive
La rupe è una importante "palestra di roccia" e vi sono state aperte parecchie vie e varianti alpinistiche di varia lunghezza e difficoltà.

Description:
The Pietra di Bismantova is characterized by very difficult vegetal environments which include a wide variety of features: jutting walls, slight slopes, sunny side facing north: this complexity of habitats gives to a high number of vegetation forms and flora presence. Depending on the different environments present we can distinguish, schematically, the vegetation into the following main categories:
1) medium gradient soils facing south; 2) detrital areas covered by rocky heterogeneous material; 3) sides facing north; 4) summit plain; 5) cracks and edges of the rocky walls. 1) Vegetation of soils facing south
It's characterized by woods, usually open, constituted mainly by thermophile oaks (the adjective indicates the need of the plant to have a sunny environment and mild temperatures), such as the common oak, and more rarely, turkey oak, accompanied by flowering ash.
On the hotter sides the common oak is dominant and forms bright populations which allow thickening of shrubs which like light among which especially Juniper, hawthorn, the Rose of Macchia, Broom and Pelastro, among these shrubs also the wild prune. The grassy layer is instead dominated by gramineae (erect broom, Genoan Paleo and Italic Sesteria), that are widespread, as furry small spikes or as ears of hanging spikes. This vegetal formation also characterizes the areas of paleoform (glacis) which come off the Pietra on the northern edge - west of the Mount. 2) The detrital areas
There's a rather sparse vegetation, highly influenced by the support of rocky material, which still today, occasionally come off the sides of the mountains. Scarce depth of the soil and it instability impede development of arboreal species, while the shrubs are relatively and the herbs suited to water poor environments: among these the Elicristo italico, Helianthus, the wild carnation, the Ocymoide saponia. Among these especially xerophile species, that is species that love dry and arid climates, a few remarkable of phitogeographic interest must be pointed out such as the Serpillo thyme, the erect broom, the Coronilla minima, the Teucrium montanum, the Globularia vulgaris, the Fumana procumbens and the Helianthenum apppenninum.
3) Sides facing north
They are characterized by a coppice wood, usually rather dense, a high number of species. These woods which you encounter on the fresh side, with less sun exposure, and a major water permanence in the soil, is constituted mainly by the following tree species: Hazel nut, Country maple, Opal maple, black hornbeam, and Orniello. Besides the species already mentioned, let us not forget the Turkey oak, the Cornelian cherry, and more rarely the Elm and the Linden. The Laburnum also called ""maggiociondoli" are also frequent, they have a charming flower which is an intense yellow color and appears in spring time. The underbrush is characterized by herbs with bright spring time blooming, with bulbous species such as the nemorosa anemone, also called Silvia. It's a year-round anemone, more than 25 cm tall, with thin and creeping rhizomes. This stem ends with a single white-petalled flower. As already mentioned, they are spring plants, very common in the small broadleaf woods, in the underbrush and in the humid soils, even clay ones. The rarest plant in the area (only ascertained location along with Mt Valestra in Emilia) is the Delphinium fissum: very rare is also the Daphne Alpina.
4) Vegetation in the summit plain
The intense pasturing which took place here up until a few years ago has strongly influenced the vegetation. Currently the woods are beginning to grow again and are rapidly extending over prairie and gramineae surfaces. These latter ones, besides being constituted by a few typical species such as the Festuca violacea, and the Paleino odoroso, have clovers, the Gentianella, Colchcum tricolor violet, Saxifraga bulifera, Polygala alpestris, Anthyllis vulneraria and numerous orchids.
The strongly expanding arboreal vegetation is instead represented by Hazel nuts, Wild maples, Common oak and on the fresher sides, Mountain maples, Laburnums and a few Black hornbeams. Of interest is the existence of the Linden, which constitutes an uncommon presence in the Reggiano territory. The Linden is easily recognizable, not only for its leaves which have a saw-edged heart shape, but for its flowers and their characteristic way of grouping together.
5) Vegetation on the rocky edges
It's a type of particularly widespread vegetation near the borders of the summits of the vertical walls of the Pietra di Bismantova, but it appears in other places along the sides of the Mount. It is characterized by an association of crass-like species which includes the "Sedi" house leek and other xerophile and "cupicole" species such as Erophila verna, Alyssoides uticulata etc. The fat plants are particularly suitable for the life conditions and the climate of the rocks of Bismantova and therefore even for lack of water. The Sedum acre and the Sedum dasyphyllum are small perennial plants with short and fat oval leaves.