Hydrophytic vegetation aspects in the Nebrodi mountains (Sicily)

The vegetation of damp areas in the Nebrodi Natural Park was already surveyed in some studies (Brullo et al. 1994). In particular, the various hygro and hydrophytic aspects were referred to associations belonging to the Phragmitetea and the Potamogetonetea classes respectively. Small lacustrine habitats in Sicily have disappeared almost everywhere and are conserved still today only in the Nebrodi Mountains. They host widely distributed hydrophytes. Some of these plants are rather localized in Sicily, e.g. Potamogeton polygonifolius Pourr. and Utricularia australis R. Br. The latter occurs also in the Madonie Mountains. Recent analyses revealed some hollows characterized by an accentuated reduction of the water level in summer. In this context Utricularia vulgaris L. was found. This species was previously known in Sicily only from the Sicani Mountains and was not recorded recently. In some hollows of the Nebrodi Mountains this species is quite abundant and together with U. australis and Potamogeton natans L. forms an association, still unpublished, here proposed in the order Potamogetonetalia with the name Utriculario- Potamogenetum natantis.