A survey of the botanical place names of the Iglesiente area (South West Sardinia)

A preliminary contribution regarding the phytotoponymy of the Iglesiente area (southwestern Sardinia) is presented. 526 plant place names have been recorded, referring to 107 taxa. Most of these are written in Campidanese dialect and refer to plants frequently found in the territory. The most recurrent plants in the surveyed place names are trees (51 %) and shrubs (11 %), spontaneous and cultivated, most of which calcifugous. Only in the westernmost districts is it possible to find some place names referring to calcicolous taxa, linked to carbonatic sedimentary substrata. With reference to the IGM (Military Geographic Institute) 1 : 25000 topographic maps, the largest amount of phytotoponyms are found around the settlements of Gonnosfanadiga (102), Iglesias (73) and Guspini (67), having a long rural tradition. Almost all the surveyed names are given by the combination of plant names with morphological elements of the landscape, particularly rivers (16 %), mountains and peaks (32 %).