Alicudi, one of the 7 main islands of the Aeolian Islands, hosts 7 endemic plant species.
Among these there is the Silene hicesiae, present on the island with about 30 plants which today represent one of the only two existing subpopulations in the world (the other one is in Panarea).
As you can imagine, we are talking about a plant species considered critically endangered, included by the IUCN in the list of the 50 most threatened botanical species in the Mediterranean area.
The main threats, in addition to the small number, are to be found in the summer fires, in the wild grazing and in the instability of the rocky cliffs on which the velvety Silene loves to grow.
