Mussen

The Mussen is an alpine meadow area high above the Gailtal valley in Carinthia, standing at 1,855 metres. Once covered in forest, its slopes were cleared long ago to create pastures, turning it into Kärnten’s foremost ‘flower mountain’. The removal of trees lowered the water table, allowing unusual plant communities to develop on the now-dry, warm soils. Its meadows and heaths shelter over 1,100 recorded species, including 670 kinds of butterfly. Among them are the newly described Elachista wieseriella and the golden fritillary, plus rare orchids such as the lady’s slipper which reaches its northern limit here. Botanists first noted this richness in 1867, and today the site is protected as a Natura 2000 area covering 387 hectares. Visitors walk through lower beech woods that give way to larch above 1,500 metres, then emerge onto flower-strewn meadows and blue-green grass swards. Mown once every year or two, these open slopes still provide winter hay for nearby villages. The air hums with grasshoppers and butterflies, while lizards and adders bask on the sun-warmed turf.