English: 2 upward-facing flowers ( showing still undehisced cream anthers ) borne by a young shoot of Scopolia carniolica forma hladnikiana, a rare and attractive form of Scopolia carniolica with pale flowers, which can range in colour from near-white to the bright yellow of those shown here. This form was earlier given specific rank as Scopolia hladnikiana Fleischm. ex Nyman, but has since been demoted to a mere botanical form i.e. a taxon not only below a subspecies but also below a mere variety.

This form of S. carniolica was first collected in the year 1819 by Franc Hladnik (curator of the Ljubljana Botanic Garden) near the town of Turjak in the Municipality of Velike Lašče in central Slovenia. It was named in his honour by his successor as curator Biatzóvszky and his student/gardener Fleischmann. Forma hladnikiana is not common in the wild and yellow-flowered specimens of this form are said to be confined to Slovenia, although, according to the title of a coloured illustration of such a specimen, such yellow-flowered plants occur also in the Eastern alps of neighbouring Austria.

The plant shown in this image is a cultivated specimen acquired in the Summer of 2023 from the plant centre of the Royal Horticultural Society, Wisley in the United Kingdom - according to which it is ‘seldom offered for sale’. This is somewhat surprising, given how much more ornamental it is than the common, purple-brown-flowered form of this Central European henbane relative. Oxford Botanic Garden used to have a thriving colony of a white-flowered variety of Scopolia carniolica f. hladnikiana, growing on a shady rockery, but, this seems, for some reason to have disappeared ( died out…been removed to another site…? )