Our plant of the week: Bulgarian saxifrage

Saxifraga ferdinandi-coburgi Kellerer & Sünd.

Lemon yellow is not only the color of the first native butterflies to search for nectar in the spring sun - the flowers of a cushion-shaped mountain plant also radiate this color. The Bulgarian saxifrage is one of the first flowering plants to herald the arrival of spring in the Alpinum. It originates from the mountain ranges in north-eastern Greece and south-western Bulgaria (including Pirin, Rhodope and Slavyanka). On limestone rocks at altitudes of 1,500 to 2,200 m, it often blooms when there is still snow - after all, summers in the mountains are short! Due to its rarity, the species is considered endangered in Bulgaria.

The unusual scientific name refers to Ferdinand I, who came from the noble Saxe-Coburg family of the House of Wettin and was Prince (later also Tsar) of Bulgaria at the end of the 19th century. Like King Friedrich August I of Saxony around a hundred years earlier, Ferdinand I was extremely interested in botany and zoology and was eager to learn. Bulgaria's capital Sofia owes a natural history museum and a zoological garden to his collector and researcher nature. The Tyrolean gardener and botanist Johann Kellerer accepted his invitation to Bulgaria in 1896 to create the first alpine plant gardens, previously unknown in the Balkans, and to further expand the royal collections of the nature-loving prince. Kellerer accompanied the prince on numerous excursions into the Bulgarian mountains and became one of the best experts on Bulgarian flora. Together with the botanist Franz Sündermann, he discovered a new species of saxifrage on one of these excursions and named it Saxifraga ferdinandi-coburgi in honor of Ferdinand I.

(KW 12/26)

Around 10,000 plant species grow in the Botanical Garden of TU Dresden. On this page we regularly present an example of this diversity in more detail. The special features of our scientific plant collection can be seen in many different ways: in amazing adaptations, strange names, interesting uses or even in the extraordinary splendor of their flowers.

You can view previous Plant of the Week articles in the archive.