The vegetation
in the natural reserve of Fondotoce
A very rich wetland
The most interesting aspect of the vegetation in the reserve is the cane thicket (made up by the swamp-small reed Phragmites australis), one of the largest left on Lake Maggiore. This marsh vegetation lays between water and mainland.
In the reserve, the cane thicket is wider at the mouth of Fondotoce canal, while it is rare along the rivers.
On the mainland sedges, bulrush and willow bushes take the place of the cane thicket. We find the white willow (Salix alba), the one used to make baskets (Salix triandra), the red willow (Salix purpurea), and the ashen grey willow (Salix cinerea). This vegetation can lead to aldern woods.
Here two rare marsh-ferns are present: Osmunda regalis and Thelypteris palustris.
Water vegetation comprehends both plants which live underwater and plants with floating leaves. As for the first kind, the “water plague” (Lagarosiphon major), the water yarrow (Myriophyllum spicatum), Ceratophyllum demersum and Potamogeton spp. Among floating plants, here is the endemical “water chestnut” (Trapa natans, var. verbanensis), that is widespread at the mouth of Fondotoce canal above all.
The riparial wood flanks river Toce and it is thicker at its mouth. In these areas, subject to periodical floods, the white willow is the main tree. Other trees are rarer: the black poplar, the white poplar, the black alder, the white alder, the ash-tree, the lime-tree and the elm.
The underwood is luxuriant; we find: the canary-grass (Typhoides arundinacea), Lythrum salicaria, Filipendula ulmaria, Glyceria maxima, Lysimachia vulgaris and Rubus caesius.
At the moment the inspected flora counts about 240 species, of which more than 1/3 are very common and often spread by means of man. In the reserve the most noticeable species are the “orchid’s feather” fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), Rorippa amphibia, Ludwigia palustris, Juncus subnodosus, Allium angulosum.
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Last updated February 20th, 2004
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