There were orange trees in yards and along the streets in the cities covered with buds and blossoms.
And we also saw some apple blossoms. Though they weren't nearly as common.
A wild iris.
Poppies were a common sight among the ruins.
These lavender plants, Lavandula angustifolia were common along the roadsides of the island of Evia and the bees were common on their flowers.
Thanks Saskia, this is now correctly identified.
The island of Santorini is actually a ring of islands surrounding a volcanic crater.
Kameni is the island in the center of the crater that formed since the eruption that created the crater.
We found a few rugged plants that manage to survive despite little rain and soil that has little ability to hold moisture.
Nic visited this page and was able to identify the next three and quite a few more as you will see further down this page.
Umbilicus horizontalis, Navelwort
Lamarkia aurea, Golden Dog's-tail.
This one she identified as a type of Senecio.
That leaves only this one from Kameni still unknown.
If you can identify it please E-mail Nancy and Alan
This one is not a plant.
It is an Epilithic Crustose lichen an organism composed of algae or cyanobacteria in symbiosis with a fungus.
The site of the original Olympic games was covered with blooms.
Borage, Borago officinalis we found growing wild.
Succulents were not uncommon growing among the rocks.
Grape hyacinths, Muscari covered this field at Olympia.
Arugula flowers, Eruca sativa, an herb in the mustard family. One covered with morning dew.
Anemone were among the most common flowers we saw.
These may be anemones too.
Daisies were also plentiful.
Nasturtium
Lamium
Wild lupine, Lupinus
A vinca blossom.
Another anemone and a companion I had not been able to identify.
When Nic visited this page and recognized the companion. .
She told me that it is a hawkweed oxtongue, Picris hieracioides
Thanks Nic.
Malva sylvestris, Common Mallow identified by Anna
Thanks Anna
This one was identified as Euphorbia, Spurge by a visitor to this page.
Thank you Grace. I appreciate your help.
And this one was identified as a Calendula flower, Calendula officinalis by another visitor.
She told me "Calendula flowers range from yellow to deep orange.
These plants have high medicinal value and are widely used in Homeopathy."
Thanks Mitalee.
Nic, who identified several of the flowers above also put names to the next 15 that were once in the unidentified group.
Thank you, Nic.
Golden Drop, Onosma frutescens
Germander Teucrium fruticans
Tragopogon - most likely porrifolius
From Wikipedia I found that its common name is Salsify and it has an edible root that tastes like oysters.
Nic told me that these all look like variations of Vicia, Fodder Vetch
Oleander seeds, Nerium oleander
This plant can be quite toxic with a death reported from drinking oleander 'tea'
Polygala Nic told me that this looks like a cultivated version.
The common name is milkwort or snakeroot, from Wikipedia.
Nic tentatively identified this as Tordylium.
An image search shows that it is quite similar but most that Google found had the large petals split into two lobes.
Asphodeline lutea, Yellow Asphodel
The Wikipedia entry about it says that it was introduced into the University of Oxford Botanic Garden in 1648.
One of the curators of the garden at the time said the plant was “not... used in Physicke (medicine) for any purpose."
The locals from where it had been obtained said that that plant had “no... propertie appropriate unto it but knavery,"
The entry leaves open exactly what sort of knavery was possible.
Orlaya grandiflora, Minoan Lace
Mignonette possibly reseda alba or luteola
Another medicinal plant used as a sedative.
Another tentative identification by Nic
Asphodelus ramosus, Branched Asphodel
Armed with a name for it I did an image search and I would say there is little doubt she is right..
Acacia Cyanophylla, Blue-leaved Wattle or A.pycnantha, Golden Wattle (introduced from Australia).
Thanks again Nic, your identifications are a great addition to this page.
A visitor from Australia has identified another of my unknowns.
This is a Freesia though I have not been able to pin down it's exact species (there are a lot of them).
Thank you Anna.
The rest of these remain unidentified.
If you know, or have a good guess, as to the identity of any of them let us know.
E-mail Nancy and Alan
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34I really appreciate it when someone takes the time to help with the identifications.
As you can see I enjoy flowers but I am no expert, so they make this page more useful to others who visit.
Click
on these links
for
Modern
Greece, Ancient
Greece, the Greek
Islands, our Greek
Eclipse, Greek
Eclipse Attire, Greek
Flowers, and Turkey.
For pictures of flowers from our other travels click here.
See
other places we have visited
here.