Perennial rocky grassland of the Italian Peninsula

This endemic habitat includes open grasslands with participation of dwarf shrubs, occurring in the interior of the Italian Peninsula. Both in their structure and floristic composition they are transitional between the Temperate dry grasslands and Mediterranean garigues. Hemicryptophytes (including perennial grasses and herbs) predominate, but dwarf shrubs and other chamaephytes are also common. Hemicryptophytes usually prevail on gentle slopes, where vegetation tends to be denser, while chamaephytes are more common on steeper slopes. Therophytes and geophytes also occur in this vegetation, especially in disturbed places, but they are not dominant. A certain number of endemic taxa is typically represented in this habitat type.

These grasslands are developed from the supra-Mediterranean to the meso-Temperate bioclimatic belts, with their optimum in the latter and in its sub-Mediterranean variant. In most cases it is secondary vegetation developed in potential habitats for deciduous forests with Quercus cerris, Q. pubescens s.l., Ostrya carpinifolia, or for mixed forests with Quercus ilex. Soils are shallow, developed usually in patches between rocky outcrops. They belong to the type of Lithic, Skeletic, Rendzic, Calcaric or Dolomitic Leptosols. Parent rocks are various calcareous sediments including limestones.

These dry grasslands are confined to the Italian Peninsula, where their range extends from the Northern to the Southern Apennines including some occurrences in Sicily. They are generally species-rich, and dependent for their long-term conservation on grazing by domestic livestock. Cessation of grazing may lead to encroachment of shrubs and trees and decline of this habitat type. In some areas the habitat was destroyed by plantation of trees, especially pines. A specific subtype of this vegetation belonging to the alliance Alyssion bertolonii, with unique species composition and a rich chamaephytic component, occurs on neutral or basic soils of serpentine outcrops and ophiolithic substrata with neutral or alkaline pH, with a distribution restricted to Tuscany, Liguria and Piedmont (Northern Apennines).

Indicators of good quality:

• Long-term habitat openness

• No encroachment of shrubs and trees

• Extensive grazing

• High species richness

• Occurrence of rare and endemic species

• Absence of tall, nutrient-demanding, ruderal and alien species

Synthesis of Red List assessment

Confidence in the assessment

Pressures and threats