Carniolan Ragwort (Senecio carniolicus)

The Carniolan Ragwort is a species that has been known from the Alps to the borders of Carinthia for more than 200 years, but in recent years it has not been recognised as "theirs" on territory in the Karavanke by either Austrians or Slovenes. It could be said to belong to the well-known plants in Slovenia, since it was described from places here, it received its name from this former province, and has only one locality here.

The Carniolan Ragwort has silky hairs, grey or grey-green pinnatisect leaves. The bright egg-yolk yellow, linguiform, tubular flowers are in an inflorescence which is called a capitula. It grows in rock crevices, on scree and on rocky meadoes.

The botanist, Karel Zois, found the ragwort on Vajnež, west of Stol more than 200 years ago. He probably sent it to Berlin, where one of the German botanists described it and christened after Carniola. The Ljubljana botanist, Valentin Plemel, who was mayor for almost twenty years, picked it in the same locality 150 years ago. Later, it was no longer found on our side of Vajnež, and Austrian botanists also believed that it no longer existed on their side. A few years ago, this locality was once again confirmed. The Carniolan Ragwort grows on both the Slovene and Austrian side of the border. All the plants in the only locality of this species in Slovenia could be counted on the fingers of both hands, which makes Carniolan Ragwort one of the rarest species of the Slovene flora.