[John J]

Yesterday our friend Michaelis called in with a couple of things for us to try.
One was a small plant of Brassica hilarionis a Cyprus endemic from the area around Agios Hilarion in the north of the island. It is considered to be endangered and is protected by the Bern Convention.
The other was seeds of Verbascum blattaria which is native to parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. It has become naturalised in the USA and Canada to the extent that it is considered to be a noxious weed in some States. However, in Cyprus it is known from only 2 locations and is regarded as Endangered in the Red Data Book of the Flora of Cyprus.

[John J]

Our friend, Michalis, dropped by again today with yet another challenge for us, seeds of a plant that is not a Cyprus endemic, being native to other areas of the Med, but one that figures in the Cyprus Red Data Book as Critically Endangered. The Dagger Flower, Mantisalca salmantica (Syn. Centaurea salmantica + 15 other synonyms!!) is known from only one location in a coastal area of the Karpass Peninsular (the Panhandle of Cyprus). In 1939 it was collected from the shore in another location but could not be found there on the search conducted in 2004/2005. It is currently threatened by the expansion of building construction and is in need of urgent conservation as it is believed that part of the population has already been destroyed.
Fingers crossed that we can succeed with germinating some of them and keeping them alive.