Tuesday 28 April 2009

The flowers of Azogires April
















We are going to try to give you some idea of what can be seen as the seasons change in Azogires. We can’t guarantee that this will be a regular feature, it depends on the goats!

What we show won’t necessarily be rare or unusual flowers but they will be Azogires flowers.

All the flowers above were photographed on 13 April 2009 and all were within 200 metres of the Alfa Cafenion.

1 comment:

Jenny Neal said...

Here are the names of the plants listed from top to bottom:

Ophrys heldreichii, Heldreich’s Ophrys. A very common orchid on the island of Crete. Flowering period: end of March to May. This orchid will be found in the shady areas of Azogires near the old olive oil factory. The flower is named after Heldreich a former curator of the Athens Botanical Gardens.

The second photograph is another orchid from the genus Serapias, Tongue Orchids. Difficult for me to say which species from this photograph, it maybe Serapias bergonii or Serapias parviflora. It’s most likely the former, Serapias bergonii which I have recorded in Azogires for several years. This orchid grows abundantly, (months of April and May), near the old water cistern close to the Platanos evergreen tree. Another species of Serapias that grows in Azogires is Serapias lingua. A good orchid book or someone who recognises these orchids can show the differences in the flower.

The third flower photograph is Lucky’s favourite, the Italian Man Orchid but if you are showing it to an Italian, it is the Man or Italian Orchid. The latin name is Orchis italica. To see why it is referred to as a ‘man’ click on the photograph and zoom in. A very common orchid on the island of Crete and it grows in great numbers around the waterfall area of Azogires.

The fourth flower photograph is yet another orchid! Azogires is a great place to visit in early Springtime if you like orchids. This orchid is Ophrys phryganae, Phrygana or Field Ophrys and it grows abundantly in Azogires and Crete, a very common orchid which can sometimes be confused with another which looks very similar but you would need to have a botanist with you to show the differences.

Finally, Vinca major, Greater Periwinkle which grows by the river and waterfall at Azogires. It is possible to see this flower as you walk towards the Platanos evergreen plane tree. This flower grows in woodland, along the banks of rivers and hedgerows. A very pretty flower which sometime produces white flowers.