Saturday and Sunday, May 14th/15th, 2022
In the southern regions of Switzerland there are exciting peculiarities of the fern world to discover. On the first day we will visit various Asplenium species in the region around Ronco sopra Ascona. Board member Alessio Maccagni, who, as a researcher at the Isole di Brissago botanical garden, knows the Ticino flora inside and out, will show us these little wall dwellers – including the Red List species Billot’s spleenwort (Asplenium billotii) and the Foresian spleenwort (Asplenium foreziense)! On a walk with a great view of Lake Maggiore, we will also keep an eye out for other fern specialties, including from the Dryopteris affinis group, which is well represented there.
On the second day of the excursion we drive to the Centovalli, where, under the guidance of President Michael Kesser, we search for rare species such as the fur fern (Paragymnopteris marantae = Notholaena marantae), brown-green-stemmed spleenwort (Asplenium adulterinum) and Cuneiform spleenwort (Asplenium cuneifolium), as well as many other species as well as interesting hybrids. After a hopefully successful search, the way back leads us into light forests and reed meadows along the Melezza river, where ferns may fade into the background in view of the encountered orchids and other botanical delicacies, but of course we will still keep an eye out for them!
The two full-day excursions will take place in the region south and south-west of Locarno. The excursion begins on Saturday at around 11 a.m. at Ronco sopra Ascona and ends on Sunday at around 4 p.m. at Verscio. For overnight stays there are Cavigliano/Verscio/Tegna or Locarno/Ascona. We ask you to book accommodation yourself. It is possible to participate in only one of the two excursions.
More information will follow about a month before the start of the excursion.
Registrations to muriel.bendel@feldbotanik.ch. When registering, please state the excursion days (Sat-Sun) resp. specify the day of the excursion.