Around Methoni and at Trigono Groves
Flowers
a poem by
Anastasia Nicole
Soft, feathery petals, dipping their heads in the wind,
A sweet as honey smell, melting every time the sun glistens,
A long, proud and perfectly balanced stem, standing its ground,
Leaves peeping out to say hello,
Amazing pastel colours, which invite you to touch,
A sweet prickly essence creeping past your eyes in the wind,
Every detail unique in their own little way,
Flowers
Spring in Greece is beautiful, and the Peloponnese is renowned for its diversity of wild
plants.
The Peloponnese has a wide range of habitats from mountain zones with rocky slopes (Garrigue
and Phrygana) to large plains with meadows and wetlands. Much of the
land is still uncultivated; its rocky terrain provides a perfect habitat for herbs, shubby
plants and bulbs.
The olive groves and meadows are carpeted with small flowers in spring and many perrenial
plants grow along the road-sides. The April 2009 visit provided the chance to photograph
more plants, with warm sunny weather after a period of rain.
Flowers of the family COMPOSITAE, are numerous and make a stunning display in Spring. There
is a wide variety in colour, height and growing location with some found on dry, stony groung,
close to the sea, and others growing tall in the lush meadows.
The family LABIATAE also boasts a number of different types and colours of flowers,
inluding the sages (Salvia species), Stachys and Thymus (thyme). These plants are found
on the habitat known as "phrygana" and in April 2009, Salvia triloba, the three-lobed sage,
Could be found on the steep bank of the roadside bordering the Trigono grove.
The family LEGUMINOSAE (known as the pea family) is well represented in Greece, including diverse plants
and trees such as vetches, clover, gorse, broom, lupin and wisteria. Distribution is over a wide range of soils,
including dry, stony, areas by the sea, on hillsides and by roadsides.
This lovely plant, a member of the family BORAGINACEAE, was photographed at the lemon Grove, though I had
not seen it there before. Found on the edges of fields, as well as in rocky locations,
it is an annual, so maybe I have not been at the Lemon Grove at its normal flowering time
More plant details:
Phlomis cretica - family Labiatae
Common name: Phlomis cretica
Leaf type: lamceolate and downy
Flower: yellow, in whorls
Location: dry stony locations - by roadsisdes near Trigono and around Petra and the Lemon Grove
Flowering period: February - June
Anemone coronaria - Family - ranunulaceae
Common name: Crown or poppy anemone
Leaf type: deeply cut in whorls around the stem
Flower: large in shades of red, purple and blue, and also white, with dark purple/black anthers.
Location: fields, olive groves and road-sides.
Flowering period: Feb- May
Anemone pavonina
Common name: Peacock anemone
Leaf type: lobed in whorls.
Flower: many pink or violet sepals with dark blue anthers, a more delicate apearance than the Crown poppy.
Location: fields and road-sides.
Flowering period: February - April
Lupinus albus - Family leguminosae
Common name: White lupin
Leaf type: elypitical in rays, downy undesides
Flower: white "pea - like" (typical of this family of plants) arranged in racemes
Location: In fields - found On and around the Lemon grove.
Flowering period: April - June
Links to other sites
Botany is a fascinating subject and the Peloponnese is one fo the world's most valuable haunts for botanists and plant -lovers. At Trigono-Lamda we attempt to phtoograph plants in situ and not disturb them. We are not experts but take great pleasure in being able to direct you to some practical and some very beautiful sites:
www.mediterraneo.gr - Publishers of "Wild flowers in Greece": ISBN: 960-8227-74-7
www.theoi.com - Plants in Greek Mythology
www.theseedsite.co.uk - Taxonomy (and common names) of plant families