About two years ago, we blogged about how an international team of scientists had baptized a recently discovered species of snails in the caves of Biscay and Guipuzcoa with the name Zospeun vasconicum. Curiously, this isn’t the first species in this genus of blind snails with semi-transparent shells with a Basque-related name; there’s another one called Zospeum biscaiense, which was catalogued in 1980.
Today, we learned, thanks to the website Nación Vasca, that since the mid-seventies, there is a species of flowers endemic to the Basque coast that also has a Basque-related name.
‘Armeria euscandiensis’, an herb endemic to the Basque coast, with a very Basque name.
It’s an herb, named Armeria euscandiensis. This name was given it after a long journey that started when, on April 6, 1893, French botanist George Rouy came across a specimen while walking around Mount Urgull in San Sebastian. The plant was definitively named almost a century later, when the Bulletin of the French Botanical Society published the studies carried out by Jean Vivant and Pierre Donadille.
The Armeria euscadiensis is found in just twenty or so towns along the coast, always in a very special type of habitat on the cliffs with an acidic pH substrate.
The whole history of this plant, and much more, including interesting thoughts on the need for preserving our environment, can be found in the Nación Vasca article; we highly recommend checking this site out.
Nación Vasca – 29/12/2016 – Euskadi
Armeria euscadiensis, la historia de un endemismo vasco
Cuando se trata de destacar la biodiversidad de un área geográfica, no hay nada como contar con un endemismo. Un ser vivo que sólo existe en ese lugar y en ningún otro de la tierra. Esta exclusividad lo convierte en una joya que exhibir y proteger, dos acciones que a menudo entran en conflicto. Hay quien opina que esto de la conservación de las especies es poco menos que un ritual naturista propio de adoradores de la tierra y subestiman su utilidad como herramienta. Los endemismos tienen el poder de atraer el turismo y ser la peor pesadilla de un constructor que recibe una evaluación negativa de impacto ambiental sobre su proyecto.
