Monday 23 September 2013

First flowers



With the equinox behind us, summer is coming to an end and for the first time last night I could have done with a blanket in the early hours. Daytime temperatures are in the high 20s but the pool water is so cold that a deep breath for courage is needed before a swim. In the plant world,  the herald of autumn is the Urginea maritima or sea squill; a strange flower that seems to appear overnight from dry earth and is an unearthly pale pink.  It would look more at home on a Star Trek or Doctor Who set. 


The flower is the final stage in its annual appearance and only shoots up long after the leaves have died back and disappeared. I found one of the bulbs earlier in the year and it weighed in at nearly two kilos which explains how this plant flowers when the earth is at its driest and how it can continue to produce leaves and flowers when not even planted. This latter quality made the bulb a fertility and good luck symbol which is still sometimes hung outside Greek houses at New Year, although I've not seen this in Turkey.  Since ancient times, the medicinal qualities of the bulb have been appreciated, especially in the treatment of heart disease, coughs and chapped feet. Virgil gives it as an ingredient of sheep wash. In large quantities it is poisonous which keeps it safe from the wild boar which dig up most roots and bulbs around our house. 


From a distance this pale lanky bloom isn't very interesting, but close up the tiny flowers are very pretty and a magnet for honey bees in search of pollen.  If you are out and about, look around the edges of fields for them as the bulbs were often used to mark land boundaries. 



24 comments:

  1. Very pretty flowers! Maybe you could catch the wild boar and eat it! ;-) We have lots of wild boars here.

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    1. We used to eat wild boar but i've lost the taste for it.

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  2. Looks really ancient. I love it! And now I'm seeing everything through Zentangle-eyes, it definitely has a good repetitive pattern to try and capture.
    Axxx

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    1. Now I know what Zentangle means - this makes sense.

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  3. . . one of those harbingers of 'Spring' along with Colchicum variagatum - overlooked but so beautiful.

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  4. You'll be back to Bodrum any day now?

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    1. Not planning to move back for a couple of months but spending more time there as social events start up again.

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    1. In a group with a backing of dark foliage and flowers they would good in a border

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  6. B to B,

    How very interesting! I've never seen it but next time I have chapped feet, I'll be looking for one.

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    1. Chapped feet - a complaint of the past if ever there was one.

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  7. I don't remember seeing this one, looks very curious and beautiful; enjoy the balmy September in Bodrum :)

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    1. Thanks Ozlem -it's a bit colder than usual this September.

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  8. Striking at a distance and very pretty close-to. A flower for all situations.

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    1. I wonder if you have them in France. Hope your DH is recovering well.

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  9. I commented on this yesterday but its not showing :-( This has happened a few times - It doesn't seem to like my Wordpress account???? I shall try again with Google :-) Now I just have to remember what I said!!

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    1. I often have problems commenting on WP sites too. Hope you remember what you said.

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  10. Interesting plant...never seen one before. Wish we had temperatures in the 20's...last night we had 3 deg Cel....brrr. But not too bad in the daytime it was about 21 deg.

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    1. We are now well into the "Yellow Summer" Cooler nights and heavy dew but still warm in the day time. All changing on Tuesday though.

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  11. Dear Annie, some striking, dainty flowers. Thank you for introducing me to the sea squill. I've never heard of it. Nature in all its variety is a never-ending source of astonishment to me. Peace.

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    1. Dee, I hadn't heard of it either until I looked up the name in a wild flower book.

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  12. Thank you. You have just answered my question about the plant I photographed at Euromos 2 weeks ago. I had given up trying to describe it on all the plant-finder websites. At the Ampitheatre at Euromos they were plentiful.

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  13. Thank you for solving my puzzle. I had been searching in vain on Google for the name of the plant I photographed at Euromos two weeks ago. There were plenty of them there, at the Amphitheatre, in all stages of flowering.

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