Waters with particular characteristics feed a small pond where a sphagnum peat bog has been reproduced, a humid and delicate environment that is rare south of the Alps but is present in Tuscany even at low altitudes. Sphagnum is a moss that forms soft carpets soaked in water. It also contributes to the formation of peat with its dead parts that, due to acidity and low temperatures, only partially decompose and accumulate over time.

LOOK OUT FOR … the small and rare Drosera rotundifolia, a plant that the Botanical Garden is preserving outside its natural habitat, then LOOK OUT for other similar carnivorous plant species that are gathered in the ‘Botanical School’ area.

Unique in their kind, the small and rare peat bogs of the Lucchesia (Lucca area) have offered refuge to plants from very different past climates. Drosera rotundifolia, a relict of glacial eras, finds moisture and low temperatures on the sphagnum moss even in summer, while the royal fern (Osmunda regalis) captures the hot summer air with its long fronds.

PHOTOS
Peat moss (Sphagnum)
Marsh spurge (Euphorbia palustris)
Snowflakes (Leucojum aestivum)
Marsh gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe)
Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata)
Common sundew (Drosera rotundifolia)