This past week we had the opportunity to visit the Orjen massive again, aiming to collect seeds of an endemic plant, Satureja horvatii. This species flowers late (October), and thus disperses seeds late too, hence the almost winter-visit to Orjen and this species. We were awaited by small patches of still unmelted snow, near 0°C temperatures and a beutiful view of the clouds and the sunset from 1600m elevation.

We were joined by a representative of the Mountain club “Subra”, who we invited to exchange experiences about Orjen, its preservation, and possibilities for cooperation. The seeds we collected are used to create a seed bank for endemic, rare and threatened plant species of Orjen, in cooperation with our partner, University Primorska, which has the infrastructure to support this conservation measure.