Grmoščica or Grmošćica is a

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as Mountain, mountains. Hills ...

Medvednica Medvednica (, ) is a mountain in central Croatia, just north of Zagreb, and marking the southern border of the historic region of Zagorje. Most of it is encompassed by the Medvednica Nature Park. The highest peak, at is Sljeme. Most of the are ...

mountain in central

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, just north of

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

. Its highest peak is 239 m.

Etymology

The oldest surviving mention of the hill is in a 1217 document under the name ''Gremla''. The form ''Grmoščica'' is

Kajkavian Kajkavian is a South Slavic languages, South Slavic supradialect or language spoken primarily by Croats in much of Central Croatia and Gorski Kotar. It is part of the South Slavic dialect continuum, being transitional to the supradialects of Č ...

, whereas the form ''Grmošćica'' is a correction according to the Croatian standard. It consists of a root inherited from

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th ...

grъmъ + -oš + -čica. A dialectal form ''Grmovčica'' is also encountered. Both spellings continue to be used. In other dialects, the word ''grmoščica'' is used to refer to the mushroom ''

Armillaria tabescens ''Armillaria tabescens'' (also known as ringless honey mushroom) is a species of fungus in the family Physalacriaceae. It is a plant pathogen. The mycelium of the fungus is bioluminescent. Hosts and symptoms ''Armillaria'' species infect a ...

''.

Biology

Flora

Trees include ''

Castanea sativa The sweet chestnut (''Castanea sativa''), also known as the Spanish chestnut or European chestnut, is a species of tree in the family Fagaceae, native to Southern Europe and Asia Minor, and widely cultivated throughout the Temperate climate, te ...

'', ''

Fagus sylvatica ''Fagus sylvatica'', the European beech or common beech, is a large, graceful deciduous tree in the Fagaceae, beech family with smooth silvery-gray bark, large leaf area, and a short trunk with low branches. Description ''Fagus sylvatica'' i ...

'', ''

Quercus petraea ''Quercus petraea'', commonly known as the sessile oak, Welsh oak, Cornish oak, Irish oak or durmast oak, is a species of oak tree native to most of Europe and into Anatolia and Iran. The sessile oak is the national tree of Ireland, and an un ...

'', ''

Salix alba ''Salix alba'', the white willow, is a species of willow native to Europe and western and Central Asia.Meikle, R. D. (1984). ''Willows and Poplars of Great Britain and Ireland''. BSBI Handbook No. 4. .Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Britain an ...

'', '' S. purpurea'', and others. There is currently a ''

Robinia pseudoacacia ''Robinia pseudoacacia'', commonly known as black locust, is a medium-sized hardwood deciduous tree, belonging to the tribe Robinieae of the legume family Fabaceae. It is native to a few small areas of the United States, but it has been widely pl ...

'' infestation, and foresters are trying to force the growth of native ''Q. petraea'' and ''F. sylvatica'' to combat it. The local ''C. sativa'' population is still badly affected by ''

Cryphonectria parasitica The pathogenic fungus ''Cryphonectria parasitica'' (formerly ''Endothia parasitica'') is a member of the Ascomycota (sac fungi). This necrotrophic fungus is native to East Asia and South East Asia and was introduced into Europe and North America ...

''. The lichen species found on oak bark on the hill are ''

Flavoparmelia caperata ''Flavoparmelia caperata'', the common greenshield lichen, is a foliose lichen that grows on the bark of trees, and occasionally on rock. Identification ''Flavoparmelia caperata'' is a medium to large foliose lichen that has a very distinctiv ...

'' and '' Hypogymnia physodes''.

Fauna

Insects include '' Subcoccinella vigintiquatuorpunctata'' and the

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

'' Dryocosmus kuriphilus'', the latter a risk for the spread of ''

''.

Geoscience

Geology

Grmoščica is home to some of the most active landslides in

Speleology

''Kustošijanka'' is a

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

with two entrances and 44 m of passageway on the north slope of a valley on the east side of Grmoščica. It is located on the fault line dividing Grmoščica in half from northeast to southwest. Its entrance is at an elevation of 155 m. The caver Darko Višek learned of its existence in conversation with local resident Vlado Krapljan, who was among the visitors who left many names and dates inscribed on the walls of the cave in their childhood. It formed in Upper Pontian layers of

marlstone Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part ...

, duststone, and

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

: "'' Rhomboidea'' layers", deposited in

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

conditions. Thanks to being on a landslide-prone part of the hill, the entrance became covered at some point after 1993 and could only be passed following digging in 2010.

Clay pit

An inactive 15.85 ha clay pit remains ''in situ'' on the southeast side of the hill.

Landslides

A large area of the forest on Grmoščica is under private ownership, which has resulted in forest loss, which has led to landslide formation.

Forest Park

The is in area, of which is forested, of which is state owned. The average wood stock is per hectare, and average current annual increment per hectare. It is planned to renew the ''

Populus ''Populus'' is a genus of 25–30 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar (), aspen, and cottonwood. The we ...

'' population in two cuts, to bring in 15,000 ''Q. petraea'' seedlings per hectare and to

reforest Reforestation is the practice of restoring previously existing forests and woodlands that have been destroyed or damaged. The prior forest destruction might have happened through deforestation, clearcutting or wildfires. Three important purpose ...

cleared areas with ''

Picea abies ''Picea abies'', the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, ...

'', ''

Pinus A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as c ...

'' species an others. The park is one of the few places in Zagreb where

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...

s are allowed without a leash.

Recreation

The arrangement of the Forest Park Grmoščica for recreation has been described as "neglected" by authorities. This began to change following the inclusion of the addition of recreational infrastructure to the park plan. A series of new downhill bicycle routes were added in 2021, although the majority of routes had been constructed on private initiative. One of the earliest and more successful branches of the , ''Grmoščica'', founded in 1938, meets on the hill. Within

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, they won the male national cup 9 times.

References

{{Medvednica Hills of Croatia