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It may freely be said that the classical research of mountain flora of Bulgaria has started by Josif Pancic’s botanical journeys and investigations. His long cherished wish to study mountain plants in Bulgaria is supported by his own statement “ Therefore, I set one condition for giving consent to tour Bulgaria i.e. I asked to be allowed to tour not only Sofija and Mt.Vitoša, but also Rila, the highest hill in The Balkan Peninsula which I on a few occasions arduously observed from Viljeg Kola and Strešer on our southern border, and which has been previously visited by only one botanist – Fridrichstal, who traveled with Boue in 1834”. The quoted comment is a part of the agreement made with Dr Bruner,Vienna entomologist, concerning the joint research journey to Bulgaria in the summer of 1881. On his way to Sofija, through Pirot, they made a few-day outing to Mt Stara Planina and its summit (Tri cuke) After a short stay in Sofija, Pancic continued his two-hour journey to the summits of Vitoša, a mountain which almost steeply rises from the lowland to the height of 2,330 m. After one-day stay he returned to Sofia via the monastery of Dragaljevac at the foot of Vitoša. After providing the necessary equipment and the letter of recommendation for the officials of the monastery of Rila, Pancic and Bruner headed for Mt. Rila, the main Pancic’s destination, via Vladaj, Radomir and Dubnice establishing their research “camp”in the Rila Monastery from where they made daily outings to various locations. During one of these outings he found himself 100 m under Jelenji summit from where he returned with the collected material to the monastery as late as 3 hours after the midnight. In Mt Rila, Pancic and Bruner stayed for 5 days from where they returned to Sofija and finally, via Pirot and Niš, after a 5-day trip to Belgrade. The research results of this journey to Bulgaria Pancic published in the paper entitled: “The structure/material for the flora of the principality of Bulgaria” in the journal Glasnik Srskog ucenog drustva (the Bulletin of the Serbian Scholarly Society).Two years later (1883), encouraged by the results of his first journey, Pancic headed for Bulgaria again in the company of his former students and then colleagues Žujovic and Djokic. His main purpose was “to tour the hill Cedar, for which the people in Ril told me to have been the highest summit in the Rhodopes”. This time they travelled along the Danube and the little expedition reached Lom Palanka on July 17th from where they went via Berkovica to Kom. After returning to Berkovica, on July 20th, where they had left their things, they went to Sofia reaching it late on the same day. During several outings from Sofia they toured Knjaževo, reached Lilin, under Koril at Mt.Vitoša. On July 27th, Pancic and his fellow companions headed along the Bistrica Valley to Ceder. Pancic did not reach the summit itself, which his two fellow travellers did, but stayed at the foot to collect the plants around the lakelets and rocks. At the dusk, after his fellow travellers’ return from the summit, they left for Samokov and reached it late into the night. On July 30th they headed, along the valley of Leva Reka river, for Rila monastery, collecting on route and in the surrounding of the monastery new material. Afterwards they arrived at Sofia via Dubnica. Pancic and his colleagues left Sofia on August 6th and reached Belgrade on 11th August. The research results of these surveys were reported in the paper entitled: “New material for the flora of the Principality of Bulgaria” in the journal Glasnik Srskog ucenog društva (the Bulletin of the Serbian Scholarly Society) book 66, 1886.
During this journey Pancic collected the material on the basis of which he described the following new taxa.
Aconitum divergens Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg. 18 (1883)
Allium melanantherum Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg. 61 (1883)
Anthemis cinerea Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg. 39 (1883)
Anthemis orbelica Panc. 1886 Nov. Elem. Fl. Princip. Bulg. 130 (1886)
Barbarea rivularis Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg. 14 (1883)
Campanula orbelica Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg. 58 (1883)
Cerastium petricola Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg. 20 (1883)
Cardamine amethysthea Panc. 1886 Nov. Elem. Fl. Princip. Bulg. 118 (1886)
Cirsium heterotrichum Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg. 42 (1883)
Filago germanica L. var. flavescens Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg. 38 (1883)
Geum bulgaricum Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg. 26 (1883)
Heracleum verticillatum Panc. 1884 Elem. Fl. Bulg. 25 (1883)
Hieracium balcanum Uechtr. ap. Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg. 46 (1883)
Knautia macedonica Gris. 1844 var. lilascens Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg. 36 (1883)
Knautia magnifica Boiss. var. flavescens Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg. 36 (1883)
Oenanthe meoides Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg. 32 (1883)
Poa alpina L. var. orbelica Panc. 1886 Nov. Elem. Fl. Princip. Bulg. 41 (1886)
Primula farinosa L. var. denudata Panc. 1886 Nov. Elem. Fl. Princip. Bulg. 139 (1886)
Saxifraga aizoon Jacq. var. racemulosa Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg.. 30 (1883)
Scabiosa triniaefolia Gris. var. setigera Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg. (1883)
Sempervivum leucanthum Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg. 30 (1883)
Verbascum jankaeanum Panc. 1886 Nov. Elem. Fl. Princip. Bulg. 32 (1886)
Viola orbelica Panc. 1883 Elem. Fl. Bulg. 16 (1883)