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This is a protected natural area of the Sicilian Region established in 2011. The reserve is also acknowledged as the ITA090003 site of community interest.

In the area of “Pantani “, in south-eastern Sicily, there are several extremely specialized marsh species that are distributed spatially according to humidity, salinity and soil nature gradients, such as Arthrocnemum macrostachyum, Sarcocornia alpinii, Halimione portulacoides, Limbarda crithmoides, Juncus acutus and Juncus subulatus.

In the coastal wetlands, the abovementioned halophyte species play an important physiognomic-structural and ecological role. The surveyed flora has already recorded 486 entities between species and subspecies; in every humid environment, aquatic and riparian plants have perfectly adapted to the temperature, the salinity and the depth of the water.
Some endemic or rare halo-hygrophilous species included in the “red lists” of Italian flora (such as Limonium pachynense, Aeluropus lagopoides, Althenia filiformis, Triglochin bulbosum subsp. Berellieri, Cressa cretica, and Lythrum tribracteatum) are particularly interesting in the very marshlands of south-eastern Sicily.

All those species currently threatened of extinction are an important indicator of the quality of the natural environment. Their state of conservation provides information on the health of the local habitat and monitors the risk of biodiversity loss.

The marshland flora includes 19 species threatened of extinction distributed as follows and according to the IUCN categories: 11 “minimum risk of extinction” species (LR), 3 “vulnerable” species (VU), 2 “seriously threatened” species (CR) and 3 species included in the “insufficient data” category (DD). These species are: Limonium pachynense, Lythrum tribracteatum, Althenia filiformis, Aeluropus lagopoides, Triglochin bulbosum subsp. stretcher bearers and Cressa cretica .

Among the flora, there are 23 extremely interesting types of orchid belonging to four different genera: Barlia (1 taxa), Ophrys (13 taxa), Orchis (6 taxa), and Serapias (3 taxa), including some Sicilian endemisms such as Ophrys oxyrrhynchos subsp. biancae, O. oxyrrhynchos subsp. calliantha, and O. oxyrrhynchos subsp. panormitana.

Allochthonous species

Exotic (or allochthonous) species, introduced involuntarily or voluntarily by man for ornamental or agronomic purposes (coming from other territories and not originally belonging to the local flora), tend to grow spontaneously, often behaving as invasive species capable of spreading autonomously in the new areas. Some of them are limited to anthropized environments (roadsides, uncultivated and cultivated fields, ruins, etc.), where competition with the native flora is limited, while others are able to settle many other natural habitats, thus representing a serious threat to the local biodiversity. In fact, they compete with the original flora and dramatically alter the structure and functionality of the habitat, also damaging the local fauna.

In the marshland, there are several exotic and invasive species such as Acacia saligna, Agave americana, Agave sisalana, Arundo donax, Lantana camara, Opuntia ficus-indica, Opuntia dillenii, Myoporum tenuifolium , Pittosporum tobira, Saccharum spontaneum subsp. aegyptiacum and many others.

Photo source:

http://www.pachinonews.it/pachino-pantani-sicilia-sudorientale-tar-accolto-ricorso-del-comune-la-sospensione-delle-zsc/

Text source:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Saverio_Sciandrello/publication/272161259_I_pantani_della_Sicilia_sud-orientale_un_ponte_tra_l%27Europa_e_l%27Africa_Conservazione_della_biodiversita_restauro_ambientale_e_uso_sostenibile/links/54dc73140cf28d3de65fd82a/I-pantani-della-Sicilia-sud-orientale-un-ponte-tra-lEuropa-e-lAfrica-Conservazione-della-biodiversita-restauro-ambientale-e-uso-sostenibile.pdf

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)