Nuragic Aquilegia is a perennial endemic herbaceous plant of Sardinia, belonging to the family of Ranunculaceae. It is also known as “Aquilegia dei Nuraghi” and is distinguished from the other species of the Aquilegia genre present in Sardinia and from the Vulgaris Vulgaris, which in Sardinia is not present.
Nuragic eagle represents one of the rarer flowers in the worldwith an estimated population of just ten specimens. This extraordinary Sardinian endemism grows exclusively in a small area of 50 square meters among the overhangs of Canyon by Gorropuin the Supramonte of Sardinia, a real botanical miracle suspended between rocks and sky.
Its purple flowers, which occasionally manifest themselves in delicate shades from white to blue, appear like small living gems in an environment as hostile as fascinating. Nature has endowed this plant with a particular defense: its toxicity, which paradoxically represents its salvation by preventing the herbivores of cibarsene.
How to recognize it
Nuragic eagle is a plant with a small underground stem from which an annual stem 20-35 cm high emerges. This stem is smooth in the lower part and becomes hairy or glandous upwards. The leaves at the base have long petioles of 15-25 cm and have a complex three-way division scheme. Smaller and less complex leaves grow along the stem.
The flowers, which bloom in May, are of a color that varies from blue-green to purple-blue, with an impressive diameter of 40-56 mm. The sepals measure 9-14 mm wide, while the petals reach 26-30 mm in length. A distinctive element is the spur, 11-13 mm long. After flowering, the plant produces drop -shaped fruits that are erected and have small hooks on the tip.
A species in the process of extinction
The international union for the conservation of nature did not hesitate to include this flower among the fifty Mediterranean endemisms most threatened extinction. Its uniqueness is absolute: there is no other place on Earth where this species can be admired, confined as it is in an area as narrow as it is inaccessible in the Sardinian territory.
Despite an attempt to protect in 2006 through a bill presented to the Regional Council of Sardinia, this precious species continues to survive without adequate protective measures, entrusted solely to its resilience and the difficulty of access to its natural habitat.
Gorropu’s canyon, silent custodian of this rare botanical treasure, hosts an ecosystem of extraordinary wealth. Here millennial specimens of Tasso and Filrocea are growing, vegetable patriarchs that have crossed ten centuries of history. The fauna includes numerous emblematic species of Supramonte, from the moufon to the wild cat, while the royal eagle still dominates the skies, finding refuge between the imposing rocky walls.
In the crystalline risoring waters of the Rio Flumineddu, which form suggestive lakes at the entrance of the valley, two other biological rarities survive: the Sardinian Euprotto and the Sardinian trout, further testimonies of a naturalistic heritage that represents an invaluable wealth for the whole humanity, worthy of maximum protection.
