Eco Hvar

Hvar's Wild Flowers in the Late Summer

Marion Podolski, author of the exquisite blog Go Hvar, continues her illustrated seasonal researches into Hvar's abundant wild flowers.

Bright roadside field marigold, Jelsa October 2016. Bright roadside field marigold, Jelsa October 2016. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Following on from our Guide to Hvar’s Wildflowers – Spring Edition, I’ve been out and about looking for what’s in bloom at the end of summer. These are mostly in the high country around the peak of Sv Nikola and on the Vorh plateau, although some are down around sea-level, even right on the beach in some cases.

Heather with black pine on Hvar's highest peak. Photo Marion Podolski

I have to say I was encouraged to find so many wildflowers in September, after what has been a scorching summer. My aim in writing the blog is to identify each one, and tag the photos with an official name in Latin, English and Croatian. With my previously somewhat inexpert pictures in mind, this time I was careful to include more of the plant (leaves, seedpods, etc) in my reference photos. And let’s hope the upcoming new series of that wonderful Croatian TV series  Lovac na bilje, (The Plant Hunter) includes  a trip to the Dalmatian coast and islands, as that could really help me identify the plants here!

Flowers on the beach on Sv.Klement. Photo Marion Podolski

Here’s the reference table of late-summer flowers. Usual disclaimer applies: while I have a reasonable confidence in most of the names, some are tentative especially when very similar suspects exist! I’d welcome any feedback from those with a rather better grounding in botany! Click on the images for a bigger picture, and links take you to wikipedia or plantea to find out more.

Antirrhinum majus

Antirrhinum majus
Snapdragon
Zijevalica
..........
Calamintha napeta

Calamintha napeta
Lesser calamint
Velecvjetna gorska metvica
Mint family but could be wild basil?
..........
..........

Campanula Pyramidalis

Campanula pyramidalis
Chimney bellflower
Piramidalni zvončić
 ..........

Capparis spinosa

 ..........

Centaurea glaberrima Tausch

Centaurea glaberrima Tausch or Centaurea jacea
Bare knapweed
Livadna zečina
Not sure exactly which variant of Centaurea this is. Reference pictures differ!
 ..........

Cephalaria leucantha

Flower head is actually a round ball, hence the Croatian name of White head!
 ..........

Cichorium intybus

Cichorium intybus
Chicory
Cikorija
 ..........

Cirsium vulgare

 ..........

Crithmum maritima

This photo taken on a Sv Klement beach. A similar plant is Salicornia, which turns red as it ages. Both samphire and salicornia are used in cooking.
 ..........

Daucus carota

Daucus carota
Wild carrot
Divlja mrkva
 ..........
 ..........

Dittrichia viscosa

Dittrichia viscosa
Woody or sticky fleabane
Ljepljini oman / brušćinac / bušina
 ..........

Ecballium

Ecballium
Squirting cucumber
Divlji krastavac
 ..........

Echinops ritro

Echinops ritro
Southern globethistle
Globus čičak
 ..........
 ..........

Foeniculum vulgare

 ..........

Hedera helix poetarum nyman

This version of ivy is native to southern Europe, and the flowers are high in nectar. Which is why this mound of ivy on Vorh was absolutely swarming with happy bees and butterflies! This one is a Cardinal.
 ..........

Heliotropium europaeum

 ..........

Inula crithmoides

Inula Crithmoides / Limbarda crithmoides
Golden Samphire
Primorski oman
Compare to samphire/motar above
..........

Knautia arvenensis

 ..........

Limonium cancelatum

Limonium cancelatum
Lattice sea-lavender
Rešetkasta mrižica or Rešetkasta travulja
This tiny variant of sea-lavender appears to be local to Croatia. Seen on Sv Klement beach.
 ..........

Opuntia ficus-indica

Opuntia ficus-indica
Opuntia / prickly pear
Opuncija
An exotic import from Mexico that grows well here!
 ..........

Pistacia terebinthus

The berries on this bush are really pretty, but the Croatian name is “Smelly“
 ..........

Plumbago europaea

Plumbago europaea
Common leadwort
Vranjemil?
Few references  even mention this European version of plumbago! Flower looks very similar to the Scilla (below), but this has 5 petals, not 6 and the clusters are different.
 ..........

Scilla autumnalis

Scilla autumnalis or Prospero autumnale
Autumn squill
Jesenji procjepak
In this case, the leaves are misleading as they belong to another plant!
 ..........

Sonchus asper

Sonchus asper
Perennial sow-thistle
Modrozeleni ostak or Kostriš
 ..........

“Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them” ~ A.A. Milne

© Marion Podolski 2016

 This article has been reproduced with kind permission from Marion's blog Go Hvar, Ramblings about a far island. Visit the blog for all kinds of information about Hvar, from artistic to epicurean!

 

 

Related items

back to top
You are here: Home about animals Nature Watch Hvar's Wild Flowers in the Late Summer

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Mosquito-borne diseases spreading in Europe due to climate crisis, says expert

    Illnesses such as dengue and malaria to reach unaffected parts of northern Europe, America, Asia and Australia, conference to hear

    Mosquito-borne diseases are spreading across the globe, and particularly in Europe, due to climate breakdown, an expert has said.

    The insects spread illnesses such as malaria and dengue fever, the prevalences of which have hugely increased over the past 80 years as global heating has given them the warmer, more humid conditions they thrive in.

    Continue reading...

  • Nature destruction will cause bigger economic slump in UK than 2008 crisis, experts warn

    Green Finance Institute report said further pollution could cut 12% off GDP by 2030s

    The destruction of nature over the rest of the decade could trigger a bigger economic slump in Britain than those caused by the 2008 global financial crisis and the Covid pandemic, experts have warned.

    Sounding the alarm over the rising financial cost from pollution, damage to water systems, soil erosion, and threats from disease, the report by the Green Finance Institute warned that further breakdown in the UK’s natural environment could lead to a 12% loss of gross domestic product (GDP) by the 2030s.

    Continue reading...

  • Survey finds that 60 firms are responsible for half of world’s plastic pollution

    Study confirms Philip Morris International, Danone, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are worst offenders

    Fewer than 60 multinationals are responsible for more than half of the world’s plastic pollution, with five responsible for a quarter of that, based on the findings of a piece of research published on Wednesday.

    The researchers concluded that for every percentage increase in plastic produced, there was an equivalent increase in plastic pollution in the environment.

    Continue reading...

  • Twenty-six pilot whales dead after mass stranding on WA beach

    Up to 160 whales have beached themselves at Toby Inlet near Dunsborough, more than 250km south of Perth

    Authorities are rushing to save more than 150 whales from a mass stranding at a beach in Western Australia’s south-west. Four pods have spread across roughly 500 metres at Toby Inlet near Dunsborough and 26 of these have died, Parks and Wildlife Service Western Australia confirmed.

    “There are 20 whales in a pod about 1.5km offshore. Another pod of about 110 animals are together closer offshore,” a spokesperson said.

    Continue reading...

  • Country diary: The dandelions should be crowded; instead, a solitary bee | Paul Evans

    The Marches, Shropshire:These glorious so-called weeds are everywhere at the moment, undimmed by the lack of attention

    Dandelion days. There is such wild energy in the air, the weather blows from hail, through showers, to bright sunshine, and dandelions pop up everywhere. There’s old “piss-a-bed” with its fang-root biting into an abandoned cemetery memorial: the white marble one with pillars, wreaths and adoring wives.

    Anywhere dandelions grow they are local; antisocial Joneses there’s no keeping up with. This rude intrusion into a display of fortune – dressed up as the pride and grief of three generations – flowers in the homeland of the great war poet from Oswestry, Wilfred Owen, who speaks from over the edge of the precipice we’re all facing now and asks: “For this the clay grew tall?”

    Continue reading...

  • Tory duty on Ofwat protects profits over reducing sewage pollution, experts say

    Campaigners fear growth duty will hamper water regulator’s ability to crack down on companies in poor financial state

    The Conservatives have pushed through a duty on the water regulator to prioritise growth, which experts have said will incentivise water companies to value their bottom lines over reducing sewage pollution.

    Campaigners fear this move will weaken Ofwat’s ability to crack down on water companies as it may force the regulator to consider a company’s financial situation and the impact on its growth if the firm is heavily fined for polluting.

    Continue reading...

  • Repeated periods of heat and drought causing some trees to die – study

    Researchers in the Netherlands find climate change is increasing vulnerability of some species

    Climate change is causing apparently healthy trees to die after periods of heat and drought. Many may not die immediately but repeated periods of hot weather seem to increase the vulnerability of some species more than others.

    Researchers studied 20 species of conifers planted 100 years ago in the same place in the Netherlands, taking tree ring samples to see how they did in droughts between 1970 and 2013. From the distance between the rings it is possible to tell how much each species’ growth was affected.

    Continue reading...

  • How divestment became a ‘clarion call’ in anti-fossil fuel and pro-ceasefire protests

    The divestment movement has a long history among US student activists, including in the overlapping movements of today

    Cameron Jones first learned about fossil fuel divestment as a 15-year-old climate organizer. When he enrolled at Columbia University in 2022, he joined the campus’s chapter of the youth-led climate justice group the Sunrise Movement and began pushing the school in New York to sever financial ties with coal, oil and gas companies.

    “The time for institutions like Columbia to be in the pocket of fossil fuel corporations has passed,” Jones wrote in an October 2023 op-ed in the student newspaper directed toward the Columbia president, Minouche Shafik.

    Continue reading...

  • Estuaries, the ‘nurseries of the sea’, are disappearing fast

    Study reveals repurposing of ecologically vital land for homes or agriculture is happening particularly rapidly in Asia

    Estuaries – the place where a river meets the ocean – are often called the “nurseries of the sea”. They are home to many of the fish we eat and support vast numbers of birds, while the surrounding salt marsh helps to stabilise shorelines and absorb floods.

    However, a new study shows that nearly half of the world’s estuaries have been altered by humans, and 20% of this estuary loss has occurred in the past 35 years.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘We all connected over Flaco’: artists turn beloved animals into symbols of their US cities

    The biggest cities in the US are mourning animals who fostered a rare sense of connection. Art is preserving their legacies

    Working near Central Park, one New Yorker regularly witnessed one of its most beloved residents: Flaco the owl, who became a celebrity after escaping the nearby zoo. The woman took the bird’s message to heart, re-evaluated her life and decided to quit her job. Now, she’s one of dozens with a Flaco tattoo.

    “They’ll be walking around the rest of their lives, that name and owl on their arm,” says Duke Riley, an environmental artist who spearheaded a special sale at his tattoo parlor this month. Customers flocked to East River Tattoo in Brooklyn, where, for $150, they could walk away with ink memorializing Flaco. The line stretched around the block, Riley says.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds

Copyright © 2024 Eco Hvar. All Rights Reserved. Developed by Orion Informatika.