Siriu is a commune in

Buzău County Buzău County () is a county ( județ) of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Buzău. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 432,054 and the population density was 70.7/km2. * Romanians – 97% * Roma ...

Muntenia Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the seldom used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in R ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, in the valley of the river

Buzău The city of Buzău (formerly spelled ''Buzeu'' or ''Buzĕu''; ) is the county seat of Buzău County, Romania, in the historical region of Muntenia. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the south-eastern curvature of the Car ...

. It is composed of five villages: Cașoca, Colțu Pietrii, Gura Siriului, Lunca Jariștei (the commune centre) and Mușcelușa.

Geography

Location

Siriu is located in the north-western part of the county, in the

Buzău Mountains The Buzău Mountains are a set of six mountains ranges in Romania which are part of the Sub Carpathians, Curvature Carpathians region of the Outer Eastern Carpathians. These six mountain ranges are as follows: * * * * * *. The Penteleu and Ivă ...

, at the Carpathians' curvature, on both sides of the river Buzău. The maximum altitude of the Siriu commune exceeds 1400 m. The Siriu Dam, constructed between 1982 and 1994 and its artificial lake are located in the commune. Lacul Vulturilor is a periglacial lake also located in Siriu.

Flora and fauna

In 1972, 10

chamois The chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of goat-antelope native to mountains in Europe, from west to east, including the Alps, the Dinarides, the Tatra and the Carpathian Mountains, the Balkan Mountains, the Ril ...

were brought to Siriu and released in the wilderness of the mountain ranges. As of 2007, their number has risen to around 60. One of the largest

fir Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family (biology), family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North America, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The ...

s in Romania, measuring 62 meters in height and 2.5 meters in

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid for ...

, grows in a forest in Siriu.Siriu website
A protected plant,

Drosera rotundifolia ''Drosera rotundifolia'', the round-leaved sundew, roundleaf sundew, or common sundew, is a carnivorous species of flowering plant that grows in bogs, marshes and fens. One of the most widespread sundew species, it has a circumboreal distribut ...

, can also be found in the Siriu forests.

History

The oldest attestation of Siriu dates back to the mid-sixteenth century. A document issued by the voivod of

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...

granted ownership of some land in Siriu to ''Petru'' and ''Lupu''.

Economy

Many of the locals work at the Nehoiaşu hydroelectric power plant. Another branch of industry active in Siriu is

wood processing Wood processing is an engineering discipline in the wood industry comprising the production of forest products, such as pulp and paper, construction materials, and tall oil. Paper engineering is a subfield of wood processing. The major wood pro ...

. Other locals grow animals (mostly sheep or bovine), and

fruit tree A fruit tree is a tree which bears fruit that is consumed or used by animals and humans — all trees that are flowering plants produce fruit, which are the ripened ovaries of flowers containing one or more seeds. In horticultural usage, ...

Notes

External links

The Buzău Mountains - SIRIU locality
{{Buzău County

Siriu Siriu is a commune in Buzău County, Muntenia, Romania, in the valley of the river Buzău. It is composed of five villages: Cașoca, Colțu Pietrii, Gura Siriului, Lunca Jariștei (the commune centre) and Mușcelușa. Geography Location Siriu ...

Localities in Muntenia