European Beech

Beech forest (Fagus sylvatica) in autumn with brownish leaves.
Beech forest (Fagus sylvatica) in autumn with brownish leaves.

We are standing in the forest of beeches, the most typical trees in the Notranjska Regional Park.

Beech forest retains a thin layer of soil on the rocky slopes of the Javorniki hills and Mount Slivnica, calms the raging winds, as well as feeds bears and other forest dwellers with its nuts. Fallen beech trunks provide home and food to tiny organisms, and their wood is a source of construction material and firewood to the local people.

Beech gladly accepts to the shelters of its kingdom anyone who knows how to listen to, and silently enjoy, the melody of the forest's everyday life.

Plant World

Mountain Pasqueflower
The purple flower of the mountain pasqueflower (Pulsatilla montana) stands out against a brownish background.

Mountain Pasqueflower

Long and cold winter, typical of the Notranjska region, not even for a second gives any hints of the Adriatic or Mediterranean influences on the flora in the Notranjska Regional Park. But immediately after the snow is gone, beautiful dark purple flowers emerge from their soil shelter.

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Broad-leaved Marsh orchid
The top of the purple inflorescence of the broad-leaved marsh orchid (Dactylorhiza majalis)

Broad-leaved Marsh orchid

A Baroque-looking plant with a thick inflorescence of many purple flowers and a long name is another of the endangered meadow orchids that thrive in the Notranjska Regional Park.

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Flowering Rush
Pink flowers of the flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus).

Flowering Rush

Flowering rush has specially adapted to extreme conditions at Lake Cerknica, where it is flooded in spring and left on dry land under the hot August sun.

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Hacquetia
Tevje (Hacquetia epipactis), rastlina z zelenimi listi in rumenim socvetjem.

Hacquetia

Small yellow-flowered spring bloomer (Hacquetia epipactis) is one of the most typical plants in the beech forests of Dinaric karst.

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