Mount Ventoux, it's not all about bike

[Yann]

Botrychium lunaria in a desert



Centranthus angustifolius, this species is characterized by its spurs and long internodes.
Butterfly is the well known Iphiclides podalirius, Flambé in french.



Koeleria vallesiana



Phyteuma orbiculare and Anchusa italica



Dianthus subacaulis, swinging in the wind i had some trouble to focus with the camera

[Yann]

Well i hope this post gives you an idea of the flora growing on that mount, i selected photos the endemics and rare ones among more than 1100 species. Fauna is also impressive.
Mt Ventoux is a real biogeographic island that can be visited year round, even during winter at lower parts.

For those without a car you can take a 2€ bus in Malaucène in the early morning, the driver will drop you near the submit and return trip is late in the evening, perfect for botanizing and eating in front of the sunset
There's also a bus from Orange TGV train station to Vaison La Romaine and then another bus to Malaucène, for less than 5€.

Our next travel in few weeks....

[Gabriela]

Interesting place Yann and beautiful, detailed pictures. It takes a lot of time to prepare the plates.
It is certainly very handy to have a good road going so high to the top!

I wonder why the mountain is so bare, at least from what I see in your pictures; why no trees or shrubs even if not a very high altitude?

[Yann]

for several centuries trees were cut to produce boats and in 1250 a lord gave the liberty to the inhabitants to enjoy full ownership of the mountainside and meadows at the foot of Mount, which is it surprising at this period.

The manage is done, the locals shaved trees to create meadows for the sheeps and tons of wood were used to produce charcoal later in the 17th century.

The inaccessible zones of the ubac stayed with their trees and in 1858 it was decided to reforest the adret, the mayor of the time was already aware of ecological damage and mudslides.
Beech and pinus were used as local species but Cedrus atlantica was used massively. They sown seeds sourced in Algeria on a 60ha surface, now it covers more than 2000 hectares.

The summit wasn't reforested because of significant erosion, that's the reason why Juniperus are the only shrubs found in screes.

[Yann]

Interesting place Yann and beautiful, detailed pictures. It takes a lot of time to prepare the plates.

Not really, i still use Picasa to create collage, the task consuming time is working with raw photos.
I usually keep 10-15% of the photos extracted from the sd card.

[Gabriela]

AH, OK it makes sense then, and I really saw just summit pictures.
I am glad that they made reforestation efforts.