Stipa eriocaulis - přehlížený druh české flóry

Stipa eriocaulis Borb. is reported for the first time as a long overlooked native species of the Czech flora. It occurs on the south-facing slope of Svatý kopeček, a hill near the town of Mikulov, in the SE part of the Czech Republic, near the Austrian border (Pálava Biosphere Reserve). It is a dominant species of a limestone dry grassland (Festucion valesiacae) occurring in this site. A field survey in a wider area and a search in local herbaria suggested that this is probably the only site in the Czech Republic where S. eriocaulis occurs. The new record is situated at the northern distribution limit of this sub-mediterranean species. The nearest records are known from sites in W Slovakia and E Austria, more than 40 km far from the reported locality. Stipa eriocaulis is a member of the series Pulcherrimae within the section Stipa, and local botanists used to misidentify it as S. pulcherrima or S. joannis. Characters discriminating these species include hair pattern on the lemma, fruit size, awn length, and leaf roughness.