[John J]

If ever you find yourself in Cyprus in the spring pay a visit to the ruins of the ancient city of Kourion. Not only are the ruins worth seeing but since they have been fenced off the wild flowers have had a chance to recover and flourish. Prior to this the local shepherds used to graze their flocks all over the area and very few plants survived the attentions of the sheep and goats. This morning we took advantage of a break in the very wintry weather we have been experiencing for the past week and went to check out the situation whilst also getting some fresh air. The display provided by the cyclamen was amazing, everywhere we turned there were massed groups of them covering the hillsides. Unfortunately, my small camera was inadequate for capturing their sheer beauty.
Other plants were also in flower such as Romulea tempskyana, Prasium majus, Salvia domenica and Geranium tuberosum.

[Fleur Pavlidis]

We have three romuleas on Hymettos, R. linaresii ssp. graeca, R. ramiflora and R. columnae which all look very similar and now here's your little Cypriot one as close a cousin as you can get.
By the way have you propagated from the salvia to make garden plants?

[John J]

No, Fleur, I haven't but now that you have brought it to mind I might give it a try. Apparently Salvia dominica (not domenica as I originally posted, slip of the finger) is common in Israel and the Palestinian Authority Territories, rare in Cyprus, absent from Turkey and Lebanon, according to the book 'Flowers of the Eastern Mediterranean'.

[JTh]

I like the leaves of the Salvia dominica, I see there are seeds for sale from the company Horizon Herbs (https://www.horizonherbs.com/product.asp??specific=632).

[Fleur Pavlidis]

Horizon Herbs disallows my (Greek) IP address from visiting its site!

[JTh]

I sent an email to them now and asked them why you were not allowed access to their site, Fleur.

[JTh]

I got this reply from Horizon Herbs:

'We have increased our security settings due to pressure from worldwide hackers.  Some older operating systems and certain at-risk IP's have been disallowed. Also, Greece disallows all seed imports unless accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate.'

I suppose you belong to the latter group, Fleur.

[Fleur Pavlidis]

Many, many thanks for writing to them, Jorun. I think they must be talking about pre-war Greece needing a certificate for seeds. I've been ordering seeds certificate-free from all sorts of seed suppliers since I came in 1976 and anyway we're in the EU - for the time being at least!

[JTh]

I have sent them a message and told them they are wrong.

I often have the same kind of problems when ordering plants from the UK to Norway. For some incomprehensible reason many companies believe that all  soil from plant roots must be removed before export, they all refer to non-existing Norwegian regulations. I have checked with the authorities here, there are no such regulations.

[David Dickinson]

I looked at the Uk restrictions on importing plants over Christmas and recall no restrictions. Here is a link to the UK gov. leaflet on the matter https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/354767/plant_product_leaflet_aug_2014.pdf and a couple of quotes read:

Within the EU, you can bring in any plant products,
other than plants and seeds of Fraxinus (Ash) and
Castanea (Sweet chestnut) and plants of Platanus
(Plane) intended for planting – as long as they are
grown in an EU country, are free from pests and
diseases and are for your own use or consumption.

With regard to seeds:

Seeds for planting
(but not potato seeds)
You are allowed to bring
a maximum of five retail
packed packets of
restricted seed without a
phytosanitary certificate.
Please note that not all
seeds are restricted. For a
complete list of seeds that
are restricted, contact Fera
– their details are on the
back of this leaflet.
Seeds of Fraxinus (Ash)
for planting

[JTh]

The EU restrictions are the same in the UK and in Greece, but here is the last reply I had from Horizon Herbs:

I understand the way you have stated the regulations, but our experience is:
if we claim seeds on a package to Greece, the package is returned to us.
Every time.

It does not help if the Greek authorities override the regulations, for whatever reason (ignorance?).

[John J]

Where is Horizon Herbs based? If it isn't in an EU country and the seeds are not therefore produced in an EU country perhaps that's why they are rejected by the Greek authorities.

[JTh]

It is based in the US (Oregon). Even so, the seeds should not have been returned when sent to Greece, so some people at the customs inspection are not fully updated.

[JTh]

To come back again to the topic here. This area is worth seeing at other times of the year as well, John. I was lucky to be allowed see this site after the AGM in Cyprus in 2009, I enjoyed both the archeologic site and the flowers; there were some really nice ones even in November.


_DSC2805 Prospero autumnale.jpg by JorunT, on Flickr


_DSC2818 white Prospero autumnale.jpg by JorunT, on Flickr


_DSC2821 Narcissusserotinus.jpg by JorunT, on Flickr
It was called N. serotinus when I took the photo, but from discussions in the Narcissus thread, I suppose it should be N. obsoletus. There were leaves, and several flowers per scape.


_DSC2832 Muscari parviflorum.jpg by JorunT, on Flickr



_DSC2866Colchicum troodi.jpg by JorunT, on Flickr


_DSC2878 Dianthus strictus ssp. troodi.jpg by JorunT, on Flickr


_DSC2840 Marrubium vulgare.jpg by JorunT, on Flickr

[John J]

Jorun, I think you are safe in labeling your photo as Narcissus serotinus[/i as I believe that is what it is. N obsoletus doesn't feature on any of the Cyprus wildflower websites or books that I can find, just N serotinus and N tazetta.
Just out of interest it's snowing outside, very unusual at this altitude and not settling. Temperature around 6 degrees C.