Crete in april

[fermi de Sousa]

And something I have not yet identified, but nice flower!  Forgive my ignorance.  Help.

Hi Steve,
Is it some sort of Salsify?
What a lot of amazing orchids BTW!
cheers
fermi

[ashley]

Thanks Yann and Steve; great to see Crete in springtime and all these fine plants

I agree with Fermi about your last one Steve.  Consider Tragopogon sinuatus.

[SteveC2]

Many thanks for the id.  Seems to be a very variable flower.  I did not see any others which were open and the thorns on the bush which it was growing through, though very effective at deterring the goats, were downright lethal to hands, legs, and backsides when I lost my balance in the high winds.

[Gabriela]

Thank you Steve for showing more pictures from this beautiful, flora rich region; one more push for me to seriously think about visiting!

[Yann]

Steve you'd better catched Petromarula that i did. In some areas they cut down the spikes before it set seeds. May be considering the plant as a weed   

[SteveC2]

All over the walls of Rhythmnon Castle and some of the steeper hillsides.  At first I kept mistaking it for orchid spikes, at least from a distance, but I thought it was an attractive plant.  Would have loved to see what its root system looked like.

[joost]

Found these near Spili:

Ophrys episcopalis
Ophrys holoserica?
Ophrys cretica

[joost]

And:
Ophrys lutea
Ophrys heldreichii
Ophrys iricolor

[joost]

A better Ophrys heldreichii
Ophrys fusca

[Yann]

Jools when did you went there? i think it's a holoserica now known as fuciflora

[joost]

hello Yann, I was there from april 15 until 22. It was growing on the first "Spili bumb".

And is it possible to send me the link of the Crete map you showed before by PM

[jonathan trustram]

I've just seen many of those plants in the Peloponnese, though Crete seems to have an exceptional richness. I'll post a few pictures.

[ashley]

In western Crete last week:

Alliaceae   Allium subhirsutum
Amaryllidaceae   Pancratium maritimum
Araceae   Arum concinnatum

[ashley]

Asphodelaceae
Aloe spp. (non-native ) at Chrisoskalitissis Monastery
Asphodeline lutea, with Asphodelus ramosus in background

[ashley]

Boraginaceae
Anchusa italica .. and in a sea of poppies (Papaver rhoeas)
Echium italicum ssp. bierbersteinii
Echium plantagineum, with Glebionis segetum