Sardinian vegetation diversity: Patrizio Gennari and the flora of Caprera - Collections

The island of Caprera

The island of Caprera, where Giuseppe Garibaldi spent the last years of his life, is part of the La Maddalena archipelago (North Eastern Sardinia), today National Park (www.lamaddalenapark.it). Almost all of the Park's Site of Community Interest (SCI) under the Habitats Directive 92/43 EC. The archipelago covers an area of about 50 square kilometers distributed across 7 main islands and a large number of islets. The first floristic studies were conducted by Giuseppe Giacinto Moris (1827-1829; 1837-1859) assisted by his collaborator Domenico Lisa: in 1822 Moris came to Sardinia to became professor of clinical medicine at the Royal University in Cagliari. He stayed until 1829, and during the seven-year stay he was able to visit the island far and wide; in the same period Alberto La Marmora drew the first topographical bases, exploring the island's geological features. Later on, between 1961 and 1867 floristic surveys of the Archipelago were particularly directed towards the island of Caprera by Patrizio Gennari. In his work he listed 461 entities with numerous references also to the islands of La Maddalena and Santo Stefano. In the following years, several other botanical explorations contributed to enhance the floristic knowledge of Caprera island, which currently amounts to 602 spontaneous entities. The spontaneous flora of the Archipelago includes 811 entities, which represent approximately a third of the Sardinian flora , including a significant number of endemic and rare species, including species of great phytogeographical interest: this rich phytodiversity greatly contributes to the overall natural value of the entire Archipelago .

The main geomorphology derived from erosion of granitic rock is characterized by rugged forms and steep slopes. The vegetation is conditioned by strong winds, with a strong summer drought and rainfall only concentrated in the colder seasons, the altitude and gradient on the distance from the mainland. The main plant formations are typical of the Mediterranean coast where the vegetation degrades the spot where the garrigue, between the plant community more features, it is necessary to mention those halophilous. The sandy surfaces and the more or less salty places allow the presence of Mediterranean halo-nitrophilous pioneer communities, glasswort swards and of psammophilous vegetation