When the Carinthian botanist, the Jesuit Franc Ksaver Wulfen came to Ljubljana in 1762, he often walked to Tivoli castle, which then belonged to the Jesuit order. On one of his walks at the end of April or beginning of May, in a damp ditch below Šišek hill close to the castle, he found an unknown plant, picked it for his herbarium and later described it as Bulbous Stitchwort (Stellaria bulbosa), since it had a tuber-like root. Later, botanists established that it the new stitchwort belonged to the genera of "false" stitchworts, which are widespread in Asia, but in Europe have only one genus, which is called after the old continent. The European False Stitchwort thus emerged from the Ljubljana False Stitchwort.
It belongs to the Pink family, to which carnations also belong. It is 10-15 cm high and has bright green lanceolate leaves. The petals are white, heart-shaped. The flowers are a speciality, which are borne on the lower parts of the plant and which do not open, though the seed develops in them. The underground tuber has already been mentioned.
It grows in damp forests and among shrubs on the southeastern flanks of the Alps, most frequently around Klagenfurt, Graz and Ljubljana.
The classical locality of the European False-stitchwort, Pod Turnom behind Tivoli castle, was protected as a natural monument in 1984 because of its historical and cultural importance.
