|
| |
|
Non-protected areas
The Bachowice and Spytkowice Hills
This perfectly charming, very hilly area is covered with acid-soiled lowland beech forest, which gives it a park-like character. Numerous prominences of the Wilamowice Foothills are crisscrossed with steep-sloped valleys having deeply incised bottoms. They have been carved by stream water in the soft, erosion-prone dusty soil and water still flows through them. In some valleys, mainly at their mouths, one can see ample giant horsetail sites.
The forest covering the Hills, its compact and almost even-aged stand, is predominated by beech - a tree with characteristic silver-grey smooth bark and a straight trunk. Beech seeds (beechmast) are shiny brown nuts placed in pairs inside a felt-like and prickly cup, and are edible. They contain a lot of oil and so are a favourite with many forest animals. Beech leaves - big and elliptic - effectively block out the access of sunlight to the forest floor. Heavy shading and soil acidity are the reasons why the ground flora is very meagre or lacking altogether, and the forest floor is covered only with a layer of fallen beech leaves. The few plant species that can be seen here are primarily small perennials, such as Maianthemum bifolium the May lily (a common plant with poisonous red berries) and the Oxalis montana the common wood sorrel (also known as the mountain woodsorrel) with leaves similar to clover leaves. Some partly protected species also occur occasionally in the ground cover, e.g. the common ivy (a creeper with evergreen leaves) and the European wild ginger (with shiny reniform leaves).
|
| |
|
|
