Not a Scarlet Pimpernel

Well, it is a scarlet pimpernel but it is not scarlet. This is a blue variety of Anagallis arvensis, Both this and the brick-red variety are found in Andalucia but this was the most common where I have been. It is called murajes in Spain (a name of unknown origin also used of chickweed, Stellaria media, which has similar leaves).  The Basque name is amorrubedarr, meaning "rabies herb".

There is another blue pimpernel in Spain, A. monelli, but that has thin, long leaves and larger flowers. That one goes by the glorious Spanish name of Centaurea real, the Royal Centaury,

Horrid Asparagus

This is the plant from which I got the most scratches and stabbings while rambling about Nerja, Not as bad as Sarsaparilla but more abundant on the tracks. There are three species of wild asparagus (espárragos trigueros or espárragos silvestres) in the area: Asparagus acutifolius, A. albus and A. horridus. I am pretty sure that these photos are an individual of A. albus. The true leaves have transformed into thorns, in this case the cladodes (stems converted into leaf look-alikes) do not end in a spine and are held in bunches.

All of these wild asparagus provide  young shoots more prized than the cultivated asparagus. Cut before they develop thorns, obviously. The taste is very much like the cultivated asparagus but stronger. The roots are succulent and tender and juicy and very tasty too. They are not often collected except to dry for medicinal use. None of the plants I encountered were in flower or berry but several had new shoots coming up, like this one.

The shoot in front is out of focus but the less obvious one directly behind shows the classic asparagus shape.

Here the classic asparagus shoot on the left and an older but still purple and soft shoot on the right.

Can you spot the good bit?

Sunset

Above the Arroyo del Pino, eastwards from Torre de Maro.

Waves and Clouds

Unfortunately the camera seemed to pick a low resolution and I didn't think to try to change it. All of these photos are done in flower portrait mode as well.

This first shot was at the beach where the Honey River (Rio de Miel) reaches the sea, just eastwards of Nerja.

I seem to have taken 12 photos to get that one, the next shows why there is a cloud of spray in the first one.

Here are some sea and cloud photos from various parts of the coast.

This last photo shows various stages in formation of the distinctive lenticular clouds, often seen above the Andalucian coast. When more perfectly formed these are often claimed to be UFOs. Apparently the south coast is the most common place in the UK for UFO reports of the flying saucer variety.

Nerja landscapes

I just got back from Nerja on the coast of Malaga province and have a few photos of plants to put on here. First though I thought I would put up the landscapes I took. Mainly because they will need less thinking about the descriptions.

The first three are all from a little bay by the side of Torre de Maro.

The next six are all from the trail that leads above the Cuevas de Nerja. This was on the one morning with a bit of cloud and strong winds.

Just east of Torrox on the coast road to Nerja is this little roadside shrine, according to Google Maps it is the Roca Virgen del Mar y Cristo del Mar. It is covered with flowers, drink and other offerings with plaques of the names of the deceased.

Stapeliad flower

Here are a couple of photos of Duvalia polita N.E. Br of the Asclepiadoideae subfamily of the Apocynaceae, which used to be its own family of Asclepiadaceae. I grew it under fluorescent lights from 2013 to 2014 and it flowered abundantly for quite a long time. It started getting a fungal disease in some parts of the plant and I decided I could use the space better as it had started to sprawl all over the place, The flowers are very variable in colour and some are spotty. All of mine were this dark chocolate-purple, these being the only photos that more-or-less got it. Other variations can be seen under the entry at the SI Database at Stapeliads.net.

The seed came from the seed list of the marvellous International Asclepiad Society. Worth being a member for that alone, let alone the glossy magazine.

Hello and Ivy-leaved Toadflax

Welcome to anyone who finds this blog. I am just going to be posting my own pictures of plants. Some are my own, some are wild and some are in other people's gardens. I will identify the plants if I know their identities.

Here are a couple of photos of Cymbalaria muralis P.Gaertn., B.Mey. & Scherb. the Female Fluellen, Wandering Jew or Ivy-leaved Toadflax, that I took today. Apparently it is now regarded as a member of the Plantaginaceae, the Plantain family, though for a long time it was one of the Scrophulariaceae, the Figwort family. As there were previously only 3 genera in the Plantaginaceae the family has been expanded massively by the inclusion of the scrophs that some call Antirrhinaceae and some call Veronicaceae. The scrophs have been further depleted by removal of all the parasitic and semi-parasitic (such as Euphrasia, the Eyebright) genera to the Orobanchaceae and Calceolaria to its own family, as well as some smaller genera which were also excluded.

The plant has been eaten as a salad in its native Southern Europe and used for curing scurvy, according to Mrs Grieve. In Campania in Italy it is well-known as a remedy for malaria and is commonly used as a wound-healing poultice and for various skin conditions. (links download a .pdf).

Mine refuses to grow on my brick walls, despite them being well-aged and full of crevices. It seems happy growing in a compost-rich border with no direct sun. This might explain why I did not find it "acrid and pungent" as Mrs Grieve described. It did have a slight bitterness like a well-grown radicchio, though I only had a couple of stalks, a whole salad bowl could be a bit much, There is some suggestion that it could be slightly toxic to livestock though I could not find a primary source on the internet for that toxicity.