Paederotella pontica is included in the Red Book of the Krasnodar Territory. The endemic is a national treasure of Russia and the Republic of Abkhazia. The ancient plant is mostly found along semi-shaded rocks in the upper forest and subalpine areas, mainly above 1500 meters above sea level.
"This species is under the threat of extinction, since a few places in the Western Caucasus have survived since the Tertiary period, where you can find small groups of it, including in the basins of the upper reaches of the Psou and Mzymta rivers. Two such unique places in the Sochi National Park are preserved in the territory of the resort "Rosa Khutor", hidden from visitors tracts, where on the rocks nestled about 200 plants of different ages," said the press service of the Sochi National Park.
Paederotella pontica is a low, 10-30 centimeters tall, multi-stemmed plant with a short woody rhizome, often located right on the surface of the cracks in the rocks where these plants grow. Its amber-yellow drooping flowers make the plant especially attractive.
Sitting on short petioles, they are located one by one in the axils of the apical leaves and reach 15 millimeters in length. The flowers have petals folded into a glass, from which a pistil with a clavate stigma protrudes. The flower is 2-3 times longer than the calyx and droops under its own weight. Usually the flowering of the species occurs at the end of May, but the prolonged winter of this year shifted flowering to the second half of June. The fruits ripen in a broad-ovate capsule in the middle of summer.
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