Bergamo Wall Plant – Common Fumitory or Earth Smoke

Left and center: Earth Smoke on a wall in Bergamo.
Right: Botanical illustration of Fumaria officinalis.

Today's Bergamo Wall Plant ™ is Fumaria officinalis – a plant in the Poppy family (Papaveraceae). It has a few common names like the somewhat boring "Common Fumitory" as well the provocative, "Earth Smoke", which sounds like a name you might choose if you had to choose a spirit name.  According to Wikipedia, "smoke" because of "the translucent color of its flowers, giving them the appearance of smoke or of hanging in smoke, and the slightly gray-blue haze color of its foliage, also resembling smoke coming from the ground, especially after morning dew."

Continuing with the etymology, this from The Names of Plants on the origin of the genus name Fumaria:

fumaria – smoke, fumus, Dioscorides' name, καπνος, referred to the effect of the juice on the eyes being the same as that of smoke, but the medieval Latin name, fumus terrae, refers to the appearance of the Fumitory plants as smoke arising from the ground.

Earth smoke is a source of fumaric acid, an organic compound that has a ton of interesting uses as discussed here, including interesting research on reducing methane gas produced in the first stomach of ruminants, a significant contributor to climate change.

F. officinalis is definitely a sun lover. It normally flowers appear between April and October, and we can maybe explain it's early blooming time here due to its location in a sunny spot on Via G. Marieni In Bergamo. Borrowing from our previous post, Bergamo – A Running Meditation,  this road honors General Giovanni Marieni (1858 – 1933), an important figure in the modernization of the Italian air force in World War I. The lane wraps around his ancestral family property sitting at the end of a small ridge, which happens to be on our normal running route.

Left and center: Earth Smoke on a wall on Via Marieni in Bergamo.
Right: View of Via Marieni.

A list of our wall plants of Bergamo thus far:

•  Aubrieta deltoidea - Purple Rock Cress and Iberis sempervirens - Evergreen Candytuft (post)

• Geranium robertianum (post) - Stinking Bob

• Erigeron karvinskianus (post) - Mexican Fleabane

• Asplenium ceterach (post) - Rustyback Fern

• Asplenium ruta-muraria (post) - Wall Rue

• Asplenium trichomanes (post) - Maidenhair spleenwort

• Parietaria diffusa (post) – Pellitory

• Cymbalaria muralis (post) - Pennywort

Hike from Bergamo to Prati Parini and Back

Overview | Notes | Flora | Trail Photos

Top left: Hike tracks roundtrip from Bergamo to Prati Parini.
Top right: A yak at Prati Parini with Bergamo in the distant background.
Bottom left: Looking toward Spino al Brembo from Canto Alto.
Bottom right:  Valle del Giongo - view west.

Overview

Length: ~ 28.2 km (17.5 miles)
Duration: 7.75 hours (includes at ½ hour lunch at Prati Parini)
Elevation:  gain 1,693m (5,554 ft), max 1,146 m (3,760 ft) Canto Alto, min 265 m (869 ft) – Bergamo.
Location: Italy, Lombardia, Bergamo, Colli di Bergamo, Sedrina/Sorisole

Notes

Problem: Sunday, no car and no desire to use public transit, and it's a beautiful day out. What to do? Solution: another megawalk! Hooray. Today the destination is AgriturismoPratiParini, an enchanting ridge that we heard about often but never visited. Admittedly, the thought of walking there and back and seeing the response in our friend's faces was a motivation, almost as good as saying we were the first to listen the latest dope track of Susie & the Nahrcocks.

There are incredible 360 degree views from the meadows (prati) around the agriturismo. Looking south you can see the green spine of hills behind Bergamo's upper city, even further the Po River Plain, and on a particularly clear day like today on the distant horizon: the Apennines. Looking north, you can take your pick and look up into Val Brembilla, Valle Brembana or Val Serina, all with the snow-capped Bergamasque Alps as backdrop.

Most people drive to a small parking lot in the little hamlet Cler and then take CAI trail 507 trail up. (You could half this walk by taking a bus (any running up Val Brembana) and get off  at Sedrina, walk up to Cler and start the hike.)

To get there on foot from Bergamo: patience and willing to cross different types of terrain. We chose a path that kept us off asphalt as much as possible, but some road was necessary. In particular, we crossed SS470 – the main thoroughfare up into Val Brembana – at Petosino which involved about 1 km on sidewalks. On our clockwise path, the first leg before lunch stop had these points of interest:

• Colle Roccolone
• Cross Piana del Grès
• Petosino (start of Via Brughiera)
• Centro Sportivo Communale (Villa d'Almè)
• Località Boscalgisi
• Flank of Monte Pissöl (between Monte dei Giubilini and Monte Pissöl)
• Cà Giongo (Valle del Giongo)
• Monte Passata (Prati Parini)

After a lunch, we continued clockwise:

• Corna dell'Uomo
• Monte Canto Alto
• Forcella del Sorriso
• Cà del Latte
• La Maresana
• Bergamo

Views of the hike route. Left: Outdoor Active. Center: East view: Right: View southwest.

Flora

Today's special special botanical finds include Alpine squill and Snowdrop, both around the sumit of Canto Alto, as well as February daphne, found in the lower woods of today's walk. This daphne is easy to spot this time of year because of it's purple flower clusters on the branches with few or no leaves.

[Family] Genus species – Common name in English {Common name in Italian}

[Amaryllidaceae] Galanthus nivalis – Snowdrop {Bucaneve}
[Asparagaceae] Scilla bifolia – Alpine squill or Two-Leaf Squill {Scilla silvestre}
[Boraginaceae] Omphalodes verna – Creeping Blue-eyed Mary or Navelwort {Occhi della Madonna primaverili}
[Iridaceae] Crocus sp. likely C. vernus – Crocus {Zafferano}
[Rosaceae] Prunus spinosa – Blackthorn or Sloe {Pruno selvatico spinoso}
[Rosaceae] Potentilla sp. – likely P. reptans or P. verna – Cinquefoil {Cinquefoglia}
[Thymelaeaceae] Daphne mezereum – Mezereum or February daphne {Dafne mezereo o fior di stecco}

• The specific epithet (mezereum) derives instead from an Arabic root and means "deadly", referring to the poisonousness of the plant.

[Ranunculaceae] Hepatica nobilis – Liverwort {Erba trinità}

[Amaryllidaceae] Galanthus nivalis – Snowdrop


[Asparagaceae] Scilla bifolia – Alpine squill or Two-Leaf Squill


[Boraginaceae] Omphalodes verna – Creeping Blue-eyed Mary or Navelwort


[Iridaceae] Crocus sp. likely C. vernus


[Ranunculaceae] Hepatica nobilis – Liverwort


[Rosaceae] Potentilla sp. – likely P. reptans or P. verna

[Thymelaeaceae] Daphne mezereum – Mezereum or February daphne

[Rosaceae] Prunus spinosa – Blackthorn or Sloe

Trail Photos

Left: Woodland below Colle Roccolone, Bergamo.
Center: Cheese, salumi and ice cream - Piana del Gres.
Right: A path in Valle del Rino, above Petosino.


Left: View of Prati Parini meadow.
Center: Costa Serina viewed from Prati Parini.
Right: Looking Toward Presolana from Canto Alto.


Left: Trail 507 below Canto Alto.
Center: View from Prati Parini towards Val Brambilla.
Right: View of Bergamo from above Boscalgisi.

Bergamo Wall Plants – Purple Rock Cress and Evergreen Candytuft

Left: Aubrieta deltoidea - Purple Rock Cress – via Castagneta Bergamo.
Right: Iberis sempervirens - Evergreen Candytuft – via Sudorno, Bergamo.

The purple and pink flowered plants we believe to be Aubrieta deltoidea or cultivars, such as 'Red Cascasde'. These plants are commonly called Purple Rock Cress. In Italian, the common name is Aubrezia, a variant of the genus name. The genus name honors Claude Aubriet (1651/65 – 1742), a French illustrator and botanical artist. The species epithet likely refers to the leaf shape, deltoid or kite shape.

Purple Rock Cress is a mat-forming evergreen, with small oval-shaped lobed leaves and flowers in shades of pink and purple. These photos of Rock Cress were taken on Via Castagneta on a wall with southern exposure, which may explain why they seem to be blooming early.

The white-flowered plant is Iberis sempervirens – commonly called Evergreen Candytuft or Perennial Candytuft. This particular plant is on a wall in Via Sudorno, near where the Lo Scorlazzino (small stair-climb) meets Lo Scorlazzone (big stair-climb). The genus name Iberis refers to the Iberian Peninsula where many members of the genus are native. The species epithet means "always green".

• Digression 1: We run and walk by this plant a lot. When we come up Lo Scorlazzino and are out of breath we are face to face with this Candytuft, which is all to say we've stared at this Candytuft enough that we are on a first name basis with it.
• Digression 2: In a recent book, Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality, the American theoretical physicist Frank Wilczek gives an estimate "that we process and 'understand' about a hundred billion distinct scenes in a lifetime." If we have seen Candytuft 1000 times in our lifetime, which is not unlikely, then that's 1e-3 divided by 1e-11 or about 0.0001 % of our image bank is occupied by Candytuft. Let's call that the Candytuft number.
• Digression 3: Candytuft reminds us of Seattle. The first time we became aware of it was on the south side of a small, standard issue craftsman house in Seattle with white cedar siding and one foot of exposed foundation cement, painted dark green. Nestled up against the foundation was a big Candytuft, which always seemed to be in bloom. And like this Candytuft on via Sudorno, we always seemed to be walking by it. Can it be that Candytufts are manipulative in where they get themselves planted so they can be seen?
• Digression 4: Why the name Candytuft? According to the Wikipedia entry for Iberis, which references Oxford English Dictionary, "[t]he name 'candytuft' is not related to candy, but derives from Candia, the former name of Iraklion on the Island of Crete."

Both Purple Rock Cress and Candytuft aren't super common (say like Pellitory of the Wall or Pennywort) when walking around Bergamo, but every now and then you see them on a wall. Both of these plants are in the Brassicaceae family, known as the mustard or cabbage family. Many important and delicious veggies (that we are on first name basis with) come from the Brassicaceae family as well as the "drosophila of the plant world", Arabidopsis thaliana, which we posted about (really in 2009!),  Arabidopsis Thaliana – Mouse-ear cress.

A list of our wall plants of Bergamo thus far:

•  Aubrieta deltoidea – Purple Rock Cress, Iberis sempervirens – Candytuft
• Geranium robertianum (post) - Stinking Bob
• Erigeron karvinskianus (post) - Mexican Fleabane
• Asplenium ceterach (post) - Rustyback Fern
• Asplenium ruta-muraria (post) - Wall Rue
• Asplenium trichomanes (post) - Maidenhair spleenwort
• Parietaria diffusa (post) – Pellitory
• Cymbalaria muralis (post) - Pennywort

 


Left two photos: Aubrieta deltoidea - Purple Rock Cress, a pink cultivar? – via Castagneta, Bergamo.
Right two photos: Aubrieta deltoidea - Purple Rock Cress – via Castagneta, Bergamo.

Left two photos: Aubrieta deltoidea - Purple Rock Cress – via Castagneta, Bergamo.
Right: Iberis sempervirens - Evergreen Candytuft – via Sudorno, Bergamo.

Hike from Bergamo to Le Buche di Nese

Overview | Notes | Flora, Fauna, Fungi | Macro Photos | Trail Photos

Upper left: Hiking tracks from Bergamo to Buche di Nese.
Upper right: Olera, a small village north of Bergamo.
Lower left: A waterfall and pool on the Nesa River, one of the "Buche di Nese".
Lower right: A view from Burro (a small hamlet south of Monte Nese) looking east toward Brumano.

Overview

Length: ~ 26 km (16 miles)
Duration: 7 hours (includes ½ hour lunch)
Elevation:  gain 1,533 m (5,030 ft), max 898 m (2,946 ft) near Canto Basso, min 262 m (860 ft) – Bergamo.
Location: Italy, Lombardia, Bergamo, Colli di Bergamo, Monte Nese

Notes

Today's hike was about exploring what are called Le Buche di Nese, "the holes of Nese" located on the Torrente Nesa, a fascinating and magical environment not far outside of Bergamo. You can get there by car or bus (26) or walking from Bergamo, which is what we describe here. It's a long walk that takes in some popular trails in the hills north of Bergamo.

The holes of the Nesa River are small pools along with waterfalls created as the stream makes a short 7 km run from its source, Monte Corna Bianca, to empty into the Serio river. The Nesa river is a spot for canyoning.

The waterfall that is the easiest to reach without much effort is what we'll call the lower one (here). From that point, we only explored upstream. To go upstream after this first waterfall, you need to work to see more. To the left of the lower waterfall is a tricky steep path to another set of pools. We arrived there and had a quick snack. From there, we tried pushing upstream some more but realized it was too dangerous. We were not outfitted for canyoning and the sides of the stream were too steep to navigate. At that point, we tried to climb out on a barely visible trail grasping on clumps of grass, but it turned out to be too steep and we weren't sure where it would lead to. So, slightly defeated we backtracked to the first waterfall and started our journey back to Bergamo.

Views of the Nesa River, waterfalls and pools, known as "le buche di Nese".

To arrive at the lower waterfall from Bergamo, follow trail 533 (from Monterosso) and switch to trail 532. You are going from Bergamo to Burro, the small hamlet just above the waterfalls. There are a number of variations to this hike such as dropping down into the charming town of Olera, or how you circumnavigate Monte Colletto. Going we dropped into Olera and went along the south side of Monte Colletto. Returning, we passed through the town of Monte di Nese (north of Monte Colletto) and avoided dropping down to Olera. Given the length of the walk, it would be wise to have one or more stopping points in Olera, Monte di Nese or Burro. Eat lunch or at least grab a coffee at a local bar or restaurant. (Unfortunately, all this was off limits to us today as we are in "orange" alert for coronavirus, which means no service except take-away and given that restriction, most places just close.)

Flora, Fauna, Fungi

First let's talk about fauna and fungi, not our strong suit. The following were spotted and photographed (see Macro section):

• [Lacertidae] Lacerta bilineata – Western Green Lizard {called ramarro occidentale in Italian}
• [Polyporaceae] Trametes versicolor – Polypore Mushroom (a shelf mushroom)

The lizard was quite a surprise. We are used to seeing small little lizards all the time, like Podarcis muralis (common wall lizard in the same family) especially in the city. During our walk today we'd hear leaves rustling on the sides of the trail as little lizards scurried away. So this Western Green Lizard was a surprise for its size and the fact that it didn't move at all. We stopped (near Canto Basso) to look at a beetle on the ground – that's what we do – and while fiddling with our cameras saw this lizard staring at us. It didn't move a muscle. It just sat there soaking up the last of the afternoon sun or waiting for his photo to be taken.

All of our flora finds on this hike are typical of this time of year, late winter not quite spring. Typical, but pleasant and particularly cheerful on this sunny Sunday of the never ending pandemic lockdown.

A standout as usual is the Dogtooth Violet, which has a surprising number of culinary uses – none that we've tried or even seen featured. From Wikipedia: "Its leaves may be consumed raw in salad, or boiled as a leaf vegetable. The bulb is also the source of a starch used in making [a type of ] vermicelli." It's called dogtooth (dens-canis) because the bulb resembles a dog tooth.

The "far-away" photos of flowers were taken with standard issue cellphones. The better quality, close-up photos were taken with a Canon EOS M6 with 100 mm macro F1.2 lens.

The "brown" looking hills in some photos are deciduous stands of Carpino betulus (hornbeam or carpino) and Quercus robur (oak or roverella, farnia, quercia). Mixed in may be other trees like Corylus avellana (hazel or nocciolo), Alnus glutinosa (alder or ontano) and others trees like Cornus mas (Conelian cherry or corniolo). There is a term, querco carpineto, that refers to stands of forests that are primarily hornbeam and oak, such as is Monte Colletto above Olera. Many of the plants we photographed today are typical of querco carpineto. Querco carpineto are managed forests in that they are periodically cut.

Finally, a curiosity: three of the species spotted today have wort in their common name, including Lungwort, Liverwort, and Milkwort.

[Family] Genus species – Common name in English {Common name in Italian}

[Asteraceae] Tussilago farfara – Coltsfoot {Tossilaggine comune}
[Boraginaceae] Pulmonaria sp. prob P. officinalis  – Lungwort {Polmonaria}
[Cornaceae] Cornus mas – Cornelian Cherry {Corniolo}
[Ericaceae] Erica carnea – Winter Heath {Erica carnicina}
[Lamiaceae] Adjuga reptans – Bugle {Bugola}
[Liliaceae] Erythroninum dens-canis – Dog's-tooth-violet or Dogtooth violet {Dente di cane}
[Polygalaceae] Polygala chamaebuxus – Shrubby Milkwort {Poligala falso bosso}
[Primulaceae] Primula vulgaris – Primrose {Primula comune}
[Ranunculaceae] Anemone nemorosa – Wood anemone {Anenome bianca}
[Ranunculaceae] Helleborus niger – Christmas rose {Elleboro nero}
[Ranunculaceae] Hepatica nobilis – Liverwort {Erba trinità}
[Violaceae] Viola odoratum – Sweet violet {Viola mammola}
[Violaceae] Viola alba – White violet {Viola bianca}

N.B. What are identified as V. odoratum are in retrospect probably just a variation of V. alba.


Left: [Asteraceae] Tussilago farfara
Center left and center right: [Boraginaceae] Pulmonaria
Right: [Cornaceae] Cornus mas

Left and center left: [Lamiaceae] Adjuga reptans
Center right and right: [Polygalaceae] Polygala chamaebuxus

Left: [Primulaceae] Primula vulgaris
Right: [Ranunculaceae] Anemone nemorosa

Left: [Violaceae] Viola alba
Right: [Violaceae] Viola odoratum and Viola alba

Macro Photos

[Liliaceae] Erythroninum dens-canis – Dog's-tooth-violet or Dogtooth violet


[Liliaceae] Erythroninum dens-canis – Dog's-tooth-violet or Dogtooth violet


Left: [Polyporaceae] Trametes versicolor – Polypore Mushroom (a shelf mushroom)

Right: [Primulaceae] Primula vulgaris – Primrose


[Ranunculaceae] Anemone nemorosa – Wood anemone


[Ranunculaceae] Helleborus niger – Christmas rose

[Ranunculaceae] Hepatica nobilis – Liverwort

Left: [Ericaceae] Erica carnea – Winter Heath
Right: [Lacertidae] Lacerta bilineata – Western Green Lizard

Left: [Boraginaceae] Pulmonaria sp. prob P. officinalis  – Lungwort
Right: [Cornaceae] Cornus mas – Cornelian Cherry

Trail Photos

Trails in and out of Olera (Bergamo).

Left: Trail out of Olera with Monte Colletto in background.
Center: Monte Nese.
Right: View from Canto Basso, north to pre-Alps.

Left: Sign explaining trails around Monte Colletto, Olera.
Center: Another view of hiking trail from Bergamo to the Buche di Nese.
Right: A sign at Burro, a point where the trail crosses a road.