The Valle Maira is among the most botanically diverse regions of the Alps – thanks in part to its remoteness. Many plant species here are endemic, meaning they occur nowhere else in the world beyond this valley and its immediate surroundings.
🔍 A few examples you may already have spotted:
– Draba vallemariana – a delicate little rock flower that thrives only on the valley’s steep, lime-rich slopes.
– Saxifraga florulenta – the “century saxifrage”: it blooms only once in its life, after up to 50 years (!) – and only in a small area of the southern Alps.
– Berardia subacaulis – a primitive plant considered a “living fossil”, found only in the south-western Alps.
These plants are specialists: they grow under extreme conditions – on bare rock, in dry grasslands or along spring-fed flushes. Any disturbance, any footstep, any picking can put their fragile existence at risk.
So please:
– Do not leave the paths – even small steps can destroy habitats.
– Do not pick or uproot anything – no matter how beautiful it looks.
– Wonder is welcome. Touching, better not.
P.S.: Some of these plants are on the Red List of threatened species – their protection begins with care.