Troianu Forest Nature Reserve

Troianu Forest Nature Reserve, also known to locals as "Cornetu", is a protected area of national interest (IUCN category IV, a floristic and forest reserve), located in Troianul commune, Teleorman County, in the north of the Boian Plain, at the contact with the Găvanu-Burdea Plain, near the Urlui stream. The reserve covers 71 hectares and overlaps with the Natura 2000 site ROSCI0179 Troianu. The forest was declared a nature reserve in 2004, with the main aim of conserving the Romanian peony (Paeonia peregrina var. romanica), a rare species considered a glacial relict, included on Romania's Red List of Higher Plants and unique in Europe. In May, for about two weeks, the peonies bloom and turn the forest into a true red carpet beneath the high canopy of the trees — a spectacle that has given rise to the local "Peony Day" celebration. The forest vegetation is dominated by Turkey oak, grey oak, downy oak and Hungarian oak, alongside which grow over 60 remarkable plant species, such as spring pheasant's eye and woolly foxglove. The fauna includes roe deer, hares and wild boar. To protect the Romanian peony, strict conservation measures have been put in place in the reserve: reduced access routes, and bans on grazing, tree felling, lighting fires and harvesting protected plants. Beyond its botanical value, the forest also holds a historical testimony: the traces of a Roman road dating from the 2nd century AD. The reserve is worth visiting especially in spring, for the unique sight of the carpet of peonies, for the richness of its rare flora and for its garden-forest atmosphere, found nowhere else in the country.