The prime of the spring season shows wonderful flowerings of trees and meadows, soothing us with their colours and scents. These are more evident in those beaches which have not been mechanically cleaned and where the dune habitat has been preserved, keeping plant species that are now rare.
In addition to the Romulea rollii, whose flowering has punctually announced the spring (cfr. “Romulea is back, spring is coming up“), in the Torre del Cerrano Marine Protected Area we can admire the large flowering of Silene colorata, annual plant which is 10 – 40 cm long and has ramified basis and five lively rose petals with a bipartite perpendicular hem (i.e. perpendicular to the stem).
Another plant whose flowering is typical of the dune habitat is the Medicago marina (coastal medick). Its head flowers are light yellow or light orange and create colorful lawns on the dunes.
Verbascum niveum subsp. garganicum is an indigenous plant which is not very distributed. It reaches a height of 150 cm, with ramified or simple stem and yellow flowers. You can easily see their long stalk popping out here and there from the sand dune vegetation, especially in the area around the Cerrano Tower.
This year the dune habitats of the Marine Protected Area have been systematically fenced in with poles and cords to protect the above mention species and many others, and the part of dunes which is closer to the sea, where the Kentish plover nests, disguising itself to the eyes of predators and men. That’s a very important initiative to respect, which raises the awareness of tourists and residents that these plants are not weed to destroy, but a natural environment rich in biodiversity that conveys also a particular beauty to the place and the coastal landscape.
