Rock Bells - Edraianthus tenuifolius (tentative ID)

Bosanka, mountain facing Dubrovnik, near the funicular, Croatia (May, 2016).
Edraianthus (rock bells or grassy bells) is a small genus of flowering plants in the bellflower family Campanulaceae. Edraianthus species are native to mountains of the Balkan, including Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia, and as far as Romania, Italy and Greece. They are small perennial plants, with tufts of grassy leaves and fine bell-shaped flowers, usually blue. They are often used as ornamental plants in rock gardens.

More pics here:
https://www.jungledragon.com/image/42043
https://www.jungledragon.com/image/42044

comments (12)

morpheme

Lion

The taxonomy for this one is pretty confusing... Wildflower is usually good at sorting out her namesake though. Posted 9 years ago
1. Patomarazul
  
  Lion
  
  Hi morpheme, thanks for the comment.
  i am pretty sure is Edraianthus tenuifolius, given the location and morphology, it is quite typical in Croatia. In any case, I appreciate that you wait for more confirmation :-)
  Posted 9 years ago, modified 9 years ago
2. 1. morpheme
    
    Lion
    
    I'm not questioning your ID - it's just there's a ton of synonyms listed and different ones on different sites... sometimes names listed as variations turn into species with more research, sometimes it goes the other direction, sometimes it's unclear. I think Wildflower may do genetic research in her actual life, so she's pretty knowledgeable and I think she knows all the best places to find the most up to date information too. Posted 9 years ago
  2. 1. Patomarazul
      
      Lion
      
      Sure, thanks!
      BTW, I am also geneticist and molecular biologist but my expertise is more on microbes (yeast and bacteria). I make my IDs of the area of Croatia based on IDs from a croatian plant expert that I know from Project Noah and I believe she is leading me in the right direction. Any additional help is nevertheless always welcome! I see many biologists here in this site too so this is good :-) Posted 9 years ago, modified 9 years ago
    2. 1. morpheme
        
        Lion
        
        There are a lot of technical folks who've found a home here. I'm a photographer who plays a scientist on TV... (lol) - no, but really I'm a medical photographer, so I know a whole lot about photography and enough science to talk the talk, at least a bit. EOL- which I think is pretty reputable, does list the name you gave the current one, so if I don't see Wildflower show up I'll enter it on in. Posted 9 years ago, modified 9 years ago
      2. Patomarazul
        
        Lion
        
        That is a cool job! I wish I could do something similar since I love photography but I am a very amateur photographer, i don´t know much of the techniques, I just grab the camera and make pics..haha! :-)
        Thanks for checking up here! ;-) Posted 9 years ago
      3. WildFlower
        
        Lion
        
        Did this Croatian expert actually check your photos and confirm your ID for this species?
        My concern is that several species of this genus are found in Croatia and they look very much alike. The difference is in tiny details which have to be closely examined with a key to the species. I could not find more specific information which species is found in that area (if it is only one). Maybe that expert would know more.
        http://hirc.botanic.hr/fcd/ShowResults.aspx?hash=-1270857590
        http://www.skalnicky.cz/Edraianthus.php
        https://sites.google.com/site/bostjansurina1/research
        http://encyclopaedia.alpinegardensociety.net/plants/Edraianthus Posted 9 years ago, modified 9 years ago
      4. Patomarazul
        
        Lion
        
        Hi Wildflower, if we want to be really perfect I think for the accurate ID in these cases the best should then be to pick up the flower and bring it to a botanist that can really make the pertinent assays to assign the species name. As you well know, some species are only told a part via comparison of their DNA and this is not possible from a picture. But I think this is also not the purpose of this web site, is it? When I am not sure I place "tentative ID" because if I only add genus name I get messages asking me to set the species name, which in many cases from a pic is not possible. Therefore, in this case I add "Tentative ID". My friend has helped me locate this and other plants according to her own experience in the area but as I say from a picture she can make a mistake so can I. More opinions like yours are in this case always welcome, so many thanks for you frequent help and advice! :-) Posted 9 years ago, modified 9 years ago
        
        WildFlower
        
        Lion
        
        Indeed, it is my job to identify species of plant pests based on their DNA.
        I try to keep the IDs as much accurate as possible and I would prefer to leave it at the genus level when a further ID is not reliable. In this case, according to the descriptions of the Alpine Garden Society, from the species reported in Croatia 3 have single flowers and here we have clusters of flowers. Those with clusters have a different lenght of the bracts. Here they seem to be as long as the flowers so we can norrow it down to Edraianthus tenuifolius and E. graminifolius. Do you have a photo of the leaves - for Edraianthus tenuifolius they should be narrow with hairs along the edge?
        http://encyclopaedia.alpinegardensociety.net/plants/Edraianthus/tenuifolius
        http://encyclopaedia.alpinegardensociety.net/plants/Edraianthus/graminifolius
        http://hirc.botanic.hr/fcd/Galerija/Slika.aspx?IdPicture=19887 Posted 9 years ago
        
        WildFlower
        
        Lion
        
        Thanks for the extra photos. Posted 9 years ago
        
        Patomarazul
        
        Lion
        
        Thanks to you for checking up! :-)
        I have a few others from Croatia for which I did not find yet an ID. Maybe you can help when I post them? Posted 9 years ago, modified 9 years ago
    3. WildFlower
      
      Lion
      
      Thanks, morpheme. I think the most up-to-date information is in the Catalogue of Life and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). For plants there is also the Plant List. I think the name is OK but there are many look-alikes. See comment above.
      http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/details/species/id/ee52318e92da1ce370381800e5299da1/source/tree
      http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-369228
      http://www.gbif.org/species/3164418 Posted 9 years ago, modified 9 years ago

The Edraianthus tenuifolius

Edraianthus tenuifolius closely resembles E. graminifolius, but has narrower (0.4-1.5mm wide) leaves, which are ciliate up to the apex, and bracts as long or longer than the flowers.

Info 3 0

Similar species: Asterales

Species identified by WildFlower

By Patomarazul

Uploaded Jul 29, 2016. Captured May 30, 2016 09:03 in Srđ ul., 20207, Bosanka, Croatia.

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SP-100EE
f/2.9
10/10000s
ISO125
4.3mm