New plant discovered: the 'Sedum aquilanum'

A new species belonging to the Crassulaceae family, including the spontaneous succulent plants, was described by Fabio Conti, in charge of the scientific department of the CRFA of the Gran Sasso - Laga National Park. The researcher of the University of Camerino, which manages the Center in collaboration with the Park Authority, availed himself of the collaboration of an expert on Crassulaceae, Lorenzo Gallo, and added a new tessera to the great mosaic of Abruzzi's flora.

The new species was found in Campo Felice (AQ), where it is present with a small population in a particularly delicate wet environment, this is the reason why it was immediately included among the most threatened species in the Italian territory. It was called Sedum aquilanum, as a tribute to the city of L'Aquila, and it will be added to the other plants proving the richness and the peculiarity of this territory's flora, such as the Astragalus aquilanus, the Stipa aquilana, the Genista pulchella subsp. Aquilana.

"The species which is most similar to the Sedum aquilanum - says Fabio Conti - is the Sedum nevadense, described in the  Sierra Nevada and found in many isolated areas of Morocco and Provence, from which it differed during the Quaternary Period".