Swabian Jura Germany

[K-D Keller]

Today I have a sunday afternoon walking tour with my family. We vist one location at the Swabian Jura near Stuttgart.
 
Our tour starts near a small village. First we walked through the meadows with fruit trees.
The meadows were full of Primula veris, P. elatior and Viola odorata and the green leaves of Colchicum autumnale.

[K-D Keller]

Our next stopp was a neglected grassland. We hoped to see Pulsatilla vulgaris and other early flowers of this habitat.
The typical tree of the neglected grasslands at the Swabian Jura is Juniperus communis.

[K-D Keller]

We saw only one open flower of Gentiana verna.

[K-D Keller]

After that we, walked into the sunny Fagus sylvatica forests.
We saw big plants of Helleborus foetidus.
The smal Anemone nemerosa began to flower.

[K-D Keller]

One early gem of this forests is Daphne mezereum. We saw 8-10 plants in flower.

Under the old Fagus sylvatica leaves we found the first flowers of Asarum europaeum.

[K-D Keller]

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[K-D Keller]

Another plant we hoped to see is Leucojum vernum. In German „Märzenbecher“.
But now it is April March is gone. We thought there is no really chance to see some flowers.
But at a north-facing slope we found big clumps of Leucojum vernum with flowers. 
We were very very suprised to see the last snow at this place.

[K-D Keller]

Last pic. habitat of L. vernum

[K-D Keller]

The winter has damaged the stones of the Late Jurassic. My children had fun to look after the fossils of this geologic period.

[K-D Keller]

Way back through the meadows

[Maggi Young]

K-D thank you for sharing this very pleasant day out.  So much for the children to learn about with the flowers and the fossils.
It is exciting to see the evidence of Spring in so many plants.