TIRANA, March 5 – Albanian researchers say they have discovered a unique global species of the Campanula family locally known as the shining bellflower. The discovery was made in the Tomorr Mountain, in the southern region of Berat in cooperation with Croatian and Italian experts, according to VoA in the local Albanian service.
Albanian natural science professor Lulezim Shuka, who gave his expertise in the discovery, says the unique discovery is important to the Albanian flora and the Ionian-Adriatic region. Professor Shuka says the climate change is also having catastrophic impacts to the rare flora species in Albania.
The Plant Systematics Evolution international journal has also featured Campanula aureliana as a new species from Albania.
“Campanula is a species-rich genus with high variability of the morphological traits, controversial taxonomic treatments within the Mediterranean basin as a species diversity center. One of the monophyletic groups in the genus is the Campanula series Garganicae Trinajstić distributed in the amphi-Adriatic and Ionian region,” says the journal.
Albania boasts a rich fauna of 3,500 species of which 25 of them are unique globally. Some four flora unique flora species were discovered in the past four year in Albania, among which the Albanian tulip in the northeastern region of Kukes.
