Plant ID please

[cbr6fs]

Could do with some help please.

Moved to Greece (from the UK) around 11 years ago, it's a fantastic place for the outdoors with none of the jobsworth type red socks brigade your left pretty much to your own devices.

Really struggling finding decent reference's to local fauna though.

My Mrs's Mum (Greek) is a wealth of info and knows exactly what is edible, what plants are good for what ailments etc.
But she speaks no English and she knows many of these plants and herbs by sight not by name, so reading on them is proving difficult.

So if no one minds i would like to take a few pics when i go out and pick your brains please.


Here is the first one.

Looks like a type of ivy, but it's strange as i've only seen it growing along the floor around rocks (spouting from cracks).



Cheers
Mark

 

[slowworm]

It looks like the leaves of a cyclamen, although I didn't think they were edible.

Edit to add, a quick google shows some cyclamen are poisonous.

 

[udamiano]

+1 on cyclamen posibly

'Cyclamen persicum' as this is quite common on the Greek isles.

if this is, then it is considered poisonous,

 

[Kepis]

Cyclamen, my gardens full of them - ALL Cyclamens are poisonous

 

[cbr6fs]

Absolutely fantastic guys thanks.
I guess that's why my searches of various ivy came up with nothing


Sorry for the confusion, i'm not interested in only edible plants.
Ideally (with your help) i'd like to read up on many of the more popular plants and trees over here.
That way i can pass this info on to the kids and makes our hikes a bit more entertaining for them.

They love going out picking herbs with their gran and are eager to pass on their knowledge and experience on to me, i'd really like to be at a stage of knowing what the main fauna is here though, so i can have a good idea what it is they're looking at.



Another question please.
There is a bush i see very often, as it bleeds a white sap i'm 99.9% sure it's not edible.
But i still find it interesting as at this time of year when the sunlight hits it's leafs they shine in a very vivid green.
I'll snap some better pics tomorrow if needed as the only pic i have right now is this, and it really doesn't do the vividness of it's leafs justice.

Cheers
Mark

 

[mountainy man]

Hi Mark, that last one I'm pretty sure is a Euphorbia, a large plant family so couldn't hazzard a guess at which one it is, the milky sap is a skin irritant to people with sensitive skin. agree with above being a cyclamen.

 

[cbr6fs]

Much appreciated thanks.

I did a quick search and found there are over 2000 varieties of Euphorbia, a quick scan through the images i was unable to find one that didn't have leaves on it's trunk like the one i see.
From the description though it's a great start, thank you.

If any ones interested i'll start snapping a few more pics while i'm out.

Here are a few i've snapped over the years.

When i'm on my own i tend to see many many Tortoise, frustratingly though we've yet to come across one when with the kids.
They're both 10 so tend to be full of enthusiasm about everything and talk a LOT, great for the company, not so good for creeping up on Tortoise though.

Came across these 2 while out MTBing

Oddly enough a few months later within meters of the above spot i came across this little fella.

Few more general pics, most taken from my mobile phone so not really up to much but i thought them interesting

A view down onto a local Monastery

Looks like a fairly old abandoned quarry

With remains of some buildings next to it

We see a fair few of these bushes as well

No winter is here most walks end after dark

And my walking companion for the last few month Bella.
I'm guessing she was around 4 months in these pics.

Hopefully some of you find them interesting enough as a thanks for your help


Cheers
Mark

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Yes I was thinking a euphorbia too, possibly a charaias of some kind .....c. wulfenii ?.......
The first pic is definately wild cyclamen...


I think the tortoises are the marginated tortoise (Testudo marginata)

next to the leafless bush you can see some pink cyclamen flowers.

 

[cbr6fs]

Thank you.

I did manage to snap a few better pics if they help.

Plus the sort of areas i've found it tends to grow in.

Had a fantastic sunset as well t'other night so i snapped a pic of that.

Cheers
Mark

 

[Kepis]

Came across these 2 while out MTBing

ahhh, bless, the one on top has sore feet and the other one is giving it a lift home

 

[cbr6fs]

Weird thing is the guy was errrrrr "tapping that bottom" at a fair rate of knots.

Never seen a tortoise move so fast

 

[cbr6fs]

Couple more please guys.

Am i right in saying this is a Hyacinth?

And what do you think the lighter green bush in the foreground is please, Sage?

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Your nose will tell you

 

[cbr6fs]

Your nose will tell you

Unfortunately i was right at the back of the linewhen they were giving out sense of smell, i'm renowned amongst mates for not being to smell anything

Saying that i can't smell anything when rubbing the leaf between my fingers.

 

[mountainy man]

I'm not convinced thats a hyacinth, the leaves look too broad/wide, looks more like an orchid of some type. the second one sure looks like sage but a close up of the leaves would confirm, the leaves should be slightly crinkly and feel soft and felty. hope this helps , the flora of NW ireland has little in common with the Med (also weather!)

 

[cbr6fs]

I agree the local fauna here is very different to northern Europe, i do appreciate all the help though, and even if we can't nail down the exact flower at least you guys can point me in the right direction.

Doesn't help that my pics are pretty terrible, i'll start taking my compact camera out with me.

I'd also like to add another one please as the kids bought this cut-off back home tonight.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

You'll be lucky, it's hard enough trying to ID one of your plants in situ..

 

[cbr6fs]

Ok ok hint taken, i'll take my little camera out with me next time

Annoying thing is, me mother-in-law knows all these plants, what they're used for, what's edible and how best to cook it.
The only thing she doesn't know are their names


Add to that a dumb bottom middle aged bloke with very little memory recoil and it gets very frustrating.


I could tell you the statistics and give you a decent opinion on pretty much every major production car and motorbike of the last 50 years, ask me to tell you the name of a plant that you told me only 10 mins previously though and i'm stumped.

So my plan is to get a name for the most common plants and trees, do some research on them, makes notes and take a few pics at various times of the year and add my mother-in-laws knowledge to the bottom.

Times like these i wish my Greek was better though