[Hilary]

Kigelia aethiopium, Sausage Tree

A stamp issued by Uganda in 1969

The accepted name of this plant is now Kigelia africana subsp. africana

Apparently many wild animals in Africa enjoy eating from this tree and cockatoos in Australia are fond of specimens in the parks
We saw a Kigelia plant on Kitchener’s Island, Aswan. One of the attendants offered to cut down the flower for me but I thanked him and declined his offer.  We went with some of the group to the island by felucca, while the rest of the group went off somewhere to ride on camels
The photo from Kitchener’s Island is not very clear so if anyone thinks the tree maybe something other than Sausage Tree please let me know

It is amazing how many tropical plants are mentioned in
 THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN. I found a reference to Kigelia africana, using the wonderful index in TMG, in issue number 71, January 2013. KIRSTENBOSCH BOTANICAL GARDEN by Margaret Johnston.
This is an article I have mentioned time and time again

[Charithea]

Hi Hilary.  I have been reading diligently your postings and admire your hard work in collecting all the information. I have not been participating in the forum because I was doing repairs to mosaics which normally get damaged by earth tremours in our area. Also there were some other civil duties to attend and weeding the church garden etc.. During  the school holidays I catch up with 'Reading'  so this summer it will be  rereading you recommended  articles. Keep the postings up.  Thank you.

[Hilary]

I am enjoying myself when preparing these posts.
Now to snap a hanging  red apple to illustrate a stamp about Newton.

Glad you like the posts

[John J]

Hilary, while i was in Limassol this morning I called into one of the main post offices to see if they had any sets of the flower stamps they printed last year and this. They seemed to have no concept of the idea of First Day Covers, but I did manage to persuade the young lady to look back through her stock of different denomination stamps and we found one from last year's set of four, this one featured Tulipa cypria. We also found 2 from this year's set of 4, Anthemis tricolor and Allium sphaerocephalum. Next time I'm down the old part of the city I'll call into a coin and stamp shop I've seen there and dig through their stuff. If you'd like these 3 I already have then send me a personal message with an address and I'll get them to you.

[Hilary]

How exciting.
I am surprised the 'young lady' had such patience with you and looked through her old stock for flowery stamps.
I don't have any of the ones she found for you
Looking through the catalog I see that the postal authorities of  Cyprus had produced series of flora stamps in 1970, 90, 94,2002,06,08, 14,17 and 18

I would be thrilled if you sent me the stamps which you found

I am rather amazed that I still find suitable stamps to use for this project
There are still some UK series which I have not scanned and quite a few stamps  which I bought last year and have not yet used

[Hilary]

Lepus capensis, Hare

The Royal Mail issued a series of five stamps in 1977 named WILDLIFE PROTECTION 
The five stamps in the series feature the usual suspects hedgehog, otter, squirrel, badger and the hare.

The photo is of one of the Wade Whimsies produced in 1980/81in a group named  TOM SMITH WILDLIFE SERIES. The small figurines came in some fancy Christmas crackers we were sent many years ago.
 
Hares are mentioned in THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN mostly as annoying animal invaders together with badgers and deer.
Read FAUNA by Yve Menzies, THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 29, July 2002  to learn about the damage cats, dogs and other animals  can do to gardens

[Alisdair]

John's ability to squeeze those stamps out of that young postmistress is a rare one but clearly a very valuable talent. The only person I know apart from John who has had it was a schoolfriend who used to persuade the nearby postmistress to let him leaf through her sheafs of new stamps searching out ones that had tiny defects, which he bought from her and then sold to fellow collectors, often getting several shillings for a stamp that had cost him just a few pence. He was called Andrew Large, and ended up as Deputy Governor of the Bank of England - a job I'm quite sure John would have handled very deftly.

[John J]

Very flattering, Alisdair, but maybe the only talent I have is the ability to come across as an eccentric old fool that needs to be humoured. 

[Hilary]

Erythrina crista-galli, CEIBO

One more stamp issued by Argentina in 1983

As luck would have it, there is a whole article devoted to Erythrina crista-galli in THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 93, July 2018
Read
ERYTHRINA CRISTA-GALLI:
SO NEAR AND YET SO FAR
By Caroline Harbouri

[Charithea]

We seem to have had mixed luck with our Erithrinas.  We have a small specimens which is growing at snail ' s space and another large  tree, which I had persuaded John to buy, a while ago from a closing down nursery.  It flowered the first year but since then nothing and every year is getting smaller as the branches die.  An Erithrina tree was bought from the same place and it is planted by the side of the road 500meters from here. It has grown very big and flowers every year with out fail.  Conclusion....?

[Hilary]

Malus domestica, Apple

A stamp issued by the Royal Mail, in a four stamp series, in 1987
The occasion was
The 300th Anniversary of the Publication of
“Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica”
By Isaac Newton

I am having some fun trying to find a photo to go with these stamps.
This one is of a fresh Greek apple from this year’s harvest, polished and hanging from a thread

There are dozens of references to apples in THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN and today, rather late in the day, I discovered I could copy /paste the relevant part of the index to the journal I was interested in. I try to find an article I have not referred to before just to keep you busy 
I chose THE PALACE OF GALIANA, TOLEDO by Katherine Greenberg in issue number 29, July 2002

[Hilary]

Hawthorn and Bramble, Crataegus and Rubus fruticosus

A stamp issued in 1967 by the Royal Mail in a six stamp series named
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS

The photos I have of Crataegus were taken in Cyprus several years ago
This is Crataegus azarolus which grows in the Mediterranean region

The photos of the Rubus fruticosus were taken this spring by my son M of the   Bramble invading his field in Sparta

Crataegus in mentioned by David Bracey in his article
MY FAVOURITE CAR-WASH which you can read in THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 66, October 2011
There are many references to Brambles in THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN I chose A GARRIGUE GARDEN by Marie-Claude Baro in issue number 60, April 2010 as the reference was not all negative.

”I do combat the spread of sarsaparilla [Smilax aspera] and brambles, I leave some since they offer protection to birds against   predators like cats,”

[Hilary]

Aesculus hippocastanum, Horse Chestnut
A stamp by the Royal Mail in 1974
The flower was taken one April in Madrid
The autumn photo was taken in Sparta
Go to THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 93, July 2018 to read about the trees, including an avenue of horse chestnuts, in the Ballarat Botanical Garden.
A VISIT TO SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA: PART2.
TO MELBOURNE AND BACK
By Christina Lambert

[Hilary]

Aesculus hippocastanum
Photos

[Hilary]

Rosa Mundie

Issued by the Royal Mail in 1976, in a four stamp series, to celebrate the
100th Anniversary of the Royal National Rose Society

I thought I would share the roses on a tablecloth my mother embroidered. Not a hundred years ago as I remember adding a few stitches to the project.

I don’t have a named photo of a Rosa Mundi but found one which looks very like it, from the date and time I must have taken a photo of the rose at the rest stop outside of Tripolis.

Trying to tie this thread in with the latest
 THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 93, July 2018 I am pointing you to read
COSTA BLANCA GARDENS TO BE VISITED DURING THE 2018 AGM
By Alan & Carol Hawes