THE BULGARIAN FLORA ONLINE
THE BULGARIAN FLORA ONLINE
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Myrtle-leaved Rhododendron.
Rhododendron myrtifolium Schott & Kotschy
The species is PROTECTED in Bulgaria by the Biodiversity Act - it is prohibited to "picking, collecting, cutting, uprooting or any other manner of destruction of specimens in their natural range in the wild", as well as "possession, keeping, movement, transport, export, trade and offering for sale or exchange of specimens taken in the wild". These bans apply to "all stages of life of the plants"1.
Listed in the Red Data Book of Bulgaria to the category "Endangered"2.
Development of tourism activities and recreation in Rila Mts and Balkan Range, associated with this construction of roads and infrastructure development; collecting for ornamental purposes; fires; poor reproductive potential3.
Rhododendron myrtifolium is an evergreen shrub, up to 50 cm high.
Leaves sessile, alternate, entire, coriaceous, dark, shining green above, ferruginous-lepidote beneath.
Flowers 3–7, pinkish red, in terminal corymbs.
Capsule 4–6 cm long, many-seeded.
Flowering May-June4.
On the rocky terraces of slopes with northern, or predominantly northern exposure, with slope rarely exceeding 30°. They occur mainly between 2000 and 2500 m alt. Localities of up to several tens of square meters also occur rarely at lower altitudes. Near Tuzha chalet in Central Balkan Range such coenoses occur at reaching 1450 m alt5.
Rila Mts. – the northern slope of Belmeken peak and in Central Balkan Range on the northern slopes of Zanogaliiski Chal peak, and less on Yurushka Gramada peak, Severen Dzhendem peak and other neighbouring territories6.
Map of general distribution7:
1 Bulgarian Biodiversity Act in english.
2 Iva Apostolova. 2015. In: Red Data Book of the Republic of Bulgaria. Volume 1 - Plants & Fungi.
3 Iva Apostolova. 2015.
4 Iva Apostolova. 2015.
5 Veska Roussakova. 2015. In: Red Data Book of the Republic of Bulgaria. Volume 3 - Habitats.
6 Veska Roussakova. 2015. In: Red Data Book of the Republic of Bulgaria. Volume 3 - Habitats.
7 Valdés, B. 2009+: Rhododendron. – In: Euro+Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity. Published at https://europlusmed.org/..
The theory of evolution is a lie!