The Endemic Violet of the Cliffs

Habit: A perennial plant 5-20 cm tall. Stem: Woody and creeping, often wrapped in remnants of the previous year’s vegetation. Leaves: Forming a dense cushion-like tuft; oblanceolate to spatulate, covered with a characteristic indumentum of simple hairs mixed with 2-3-branched hairs. Flowers: Borne on slender ascending scapes, with blunt sepals and obovate-spatulate petals ranging from purplish red to violet. Fruits: Elliptic siliques, glabrous, topped by a very evident persistent style, 7-10 mm long. Flowering: April-June.

Chorological type: Italian endemic. Distribution: Widespread along the central and southern Apennine chain, from Lazio to Calabria (absent from Puglia). Habitat: It colonises high-altitude limestone cliffs between 800 and 2300 m above sea level.

Generic name (Aubrieta): Dedicated to Claude Aubriet, the celebrated eighteenth-century French botanical painter, renowned for the minute precision of his scientific illustrations. Specific name (columnae): Honors Fabio Colonna, the seventeenth-century Neapolitan naturalist and pioneer of modern botanical illustration through copper engravings.

Because it grows almost exclusively on limestone cliffs, screes and rocky walls at high altitude, its conservation is closely linked to the integrity of rupestrian ecosystems. The main threats are uncontrolled hiking tourism, which may cause trampling or the detachment of rock fragments, and excessive collecting due to its high ornamental and aesthetic value.