An exceptional discovery of Kochia saxicola occurred in November 2011 on the promontory of Palinuro. A group of botanists of the University Federico II of Naples and Second University of Naples engaged in research of rare plants in the National Park of Cilento and Vallo di Diano and made the announcement in the press. The event is really unique because they had news of the presence of this rare plant at an only small island of Strombolicchio in the Aeolian Islands and Capri. It is a symbol of biodiversity, often growing in extreme environment such as the nearby vertical cliffs to the sea. The botanical Sandro Pignatti writes in his "Flora of Italy" (1982): "It’s one of the most interesting and rare plants of the Italian flora ... Every biology student had to meet the pressing invitation to respect it in all carefully, to favour their dissemination, to ensure that measures are taken to ensure their conservation.”
This species has been observed for the first time by an Avellino botanist Giovanni Gussone in the mid-nineteenth century at "Ischia ne’ scogli di S. Anna". In the late 18th century it was sighted in Capri, where it still exists a population of about 100 specimens, located on coastal cliffs which are difficult to reach.
In Strombolicchio the plant was collected for the first time by the Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria Habsburg-Lothringen in 1895, and, a few years later, the botanist Sicilian Michele Lojacono-Pojero (1902). The Kochia saxicola, also known as Bassia saxicola, is linked to rocky habitats, preferring the shady slopes and rather compact rocks. In Strombolicchio the population settles on volcanic rocks on vertical or sub vertical.
The Bassia saxicola figure in Appendix I of the Bern Convention, and as a species of priority interest in Appendix II of Directive 43/92 / EEC "Flora, Fauna and Habitat", as well as on the Regional Red List compiled by Conti et al. (1997). Based on the most recent IUCN proposals, this species should be included in the category "CR" (critically endangered, severely endangered).
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Notes
Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia (3 voll.) - Edagricole - 1982
Zangheri P. - Flora Italica (2 voll.) - Cedam - 1976