Botanical summer in the field – a team-building trip for employees of the Institute of Botany PAS

On the last day of June, the team-building trip of the W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, took place under the theme "Botanical summer in the field". A large group of employees from our Institute visited several sites of outstanding natural interest in the vicinity of the town of Bukowno. The first part of the programme was a walk through a section of the former sand mine excavation in Bór Biskupi (district of Bukowno), offering an opportunity to explore the geology as well as the exceptionally diverse flora and fauna of the area. Participants were able to admire thriving populations of round-leaved sundew, bog clubmoss, marsh helleborine, and Tofield’s asphodel, along with many other plant species characteristic of unreclaimed parts of the former sand pit.

During the second part of the trip, the group headed to Diabla Góra, one of the hills of the Jaworzno Foothills. Despite unexpected obstacles in the form of enormous fallen beeches, the participants successfully reached the summit, covered by an impressive orchid-rich beech forest with flowering red helleborines, dark-red helleborines, and peach-leaved bellflowers. Another memorable attraction was reaching the cave known as "the Jaskinia w Diablej Górze", followed by a descent down the steep hillside. The return route led through fragments of Scots pine forests, which dominate large areas around Bukowno.

Botanical excursions, as a form of integration and an opportunity to share knowledge about nature and local landscapes, are deeply rooted in the tradition of the Institute of Botany PAS. We hope that, after many years of absence, they will permanently return to the Institute’s calendar of events.

The excursion was preceded by a short talk on the geology, land-use history, and flora of the former sand mining areas around Bukowno.
Photo: Krzysztof Stachowicz.

Participants of the excursion admiring riparian tall-herb vegetation growing along watercourses within the former sand pit area.
Photo: Wojciech Paul.

Crossing sandy expanses on the way to the bottom of the former sand mine excavation.
Photo: Agnieszka Nikel.

Botanists photographing round-leaved sundews.
Photo: Renata Stachowicz-Rybka.

A rest in the orchid-rich beech forest at the summit of Diabla Góra.
Photo: Agnieszka Sojka.

Round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) and bog clubmoss (Lycopodiella inundata).
Photo: Krzysztof Stachowicz.

Red helleborine (Cephalanthera rubra) in the herb layer of the orchid-rich beech forest on Diabla Góra.
Photo: Krzysztof Stachowicz.

Marsh helleborine (Epipactis palustris) in a peatland located in the lowest part of the former sand mine excavation in Bór Biskupi.
Photo: Krzysztof Stachowicz.

Employees of the Institute of Botany PAS participating in the botanical team-building excursion to the Bukowno area.
Photo: Krzysztof Stachowicz.