 Crown daisy Chrysanthemum coronarium 
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The crown daisies (Chrysanthemum coronarium) are in full bloom on wasteland and along roadsides. All daisies belong to the composite family which means that each "flower" is actually a grouping of at least two types of miniature flower: the disk florets that make up the bright often yellow centre of the flower and the ray florets which are arranged along the outside. Each ray floret has one long strap-like petal. In the crown daisy, this petal is a two-toned dark yellow towards the middle and pale-yellow on the outside. Among rocks on the hillsides you may come across a wild tulip, Tulipa australis. Its long strap like leaves spread along the ground while the bright yellow flowers with a flush of red on the outer petals hang their blooms 10 to 12 cm above the ground. Along dry stone walls and roads the wild jasmine,(Jasminum fruticans) an evergreen shrub with slender four angled branches has small yellow flowers. This bush with its small tripinnate leaves will produce shining black berries later in the year. A flower brightening the fields and road verges after the Oxalis fades is a small yellow daisy Calendula suffruticosa. This produces a head of sickle shaped seeds shown in the diagram. Spurges are botanically very interesting plants. Varying from giant cactus like plants found in Africa to short simple plants like this Euphorbia segetalis. They all produce a milky latex when the stems are cut. The euphorbias have unusual flowers. Male and female are separate: the male flower consists of a single stamen and female flowers of an ovary and three styles. A few male flowers and a single female are grouped together. The flowers have no true petals but are surrounded by bracts. Poinsettia, a Euphorbia from Mexico has bright red leaves and bracts around the flowers. This spurge, which appears in sandy fields and on waste ground, has rounded yellowish-green bracts.
In damp places, as early as mid-January, the Lesser Celandine, Ranunclus ficara, produces shining yellow flowers among large round green leaves. At the same time in the cistus scrub on hillsides the small flowered gorse, Ulex parviflora starts to flower. It will continue flowering well into the summer. In early Febraury on hillsides among rocks bright yellow Anemones will bloom. As all anemones it has no sepals only 10-15 'petals' some of which are tinged red on their lower surfaces. This anemone is found in the Iberian Peninsula and the south of France. |
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WINTER: WHITE AND GREEN FLOWERS
WINTER: PURPLE, LILAC AND VIOLET FLOWERS
© (Text and Artwork) Irene Shepard 2002 .