Vrchná hora - Dictamnus albus
Close to the Capital city there is low hill called Vrchná hora. During Neogene period this locality was Pannonian sea shoreline. So the subsoil is sandy with fossil mollusc shells. Now the most of the locality is grassy meadow. On this west oriantated slopes thrive mostly xerotermic flora and fauna that can sustain long term period of heat and dry. (GPS:48.26205, 17.04740) . Grassy meadows on the slopes of Vrchná hora hill. During the spring som interresting plants are here to seen. One of them is Dictamnus albus from Rutaceae family. Each plant has many flowers on tall stalk. The flowers are white with violet or pink stripes on petals. The plant exude volatile oils and flowers attract a lot of different bees species. The hard seeds are black and oval. Behind each seed is spring like mechanism that release the seeds few centimetres away from the plant when the fruit is dry. Population of Dictamnus albus on the top of Mt. Vrchná hora. Honey bees and a lot of other different ...