Flora - Fox-and-cubs - miniature sheet

Flora – Plants of the Pohorje

The plants featured on these stamps are species that are characteristic of Slovenia’s Pohorje massif. All are rare in Slovenia, while one only grows in the Pohorje and is found nowhere else in the country. The adoption of a document that will define the summit areas of the Pohorje as a regional park by virtue of their conserved natural environment has been planned for some time. “Plants of the Pohorje” were chosen as the designs for these stamps in the hope that this will further raise the profile of the future Pohorje Regional Park, which is currently in the process of being established.

Fox-and-cubs (Hieracium aurantiacum)

This bright orange hawkweed is found across the greater part of Europe and has also been introduced on other continents. It is frequently used as an ornamental plant because of its very decorative flowers.

In Slovenia it only grows on acidic soils in the montane zone, on grasslands dominated by mat-grass. This includes the chert habitat of Mala Lazna on the Trnovski Gozd plateau, while other acidified areas include the Karavanke and, of course, the Pohorje, where the plant is relatively common on the high meadows, where it can be easily identified by its inflorescence, with colours ranging from yellow to dark orange. Fox-and-cubs belongs to the family of the Asteraceae, whose inflorescences may look superficially like a single flower.

Mitja Kaligarič