California poppy, Californian poppy, golden poppy, California sunlight, cup of gold - Eschscholzia californica Cham. - Παπαρούνα Καλιφόρνιας - Cyprus

Garden escapee
Eschscholzia californica (California poppy, Californian poppy, golden poppy, California sunlight, cup of gold) is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae, native to the United States and Mexico, and the official state flower of California.

It is a perennial or annual growing to 5–60 in (13–152 cm) tall, with alternately branching glaucous blue-green foliage. The leaves are alternately divided into round, lobed segments. The flowers are solitary on long stems, silky-textured, with four petals, each petal 2 to 6 cm (0.79 to 2.36 in) long and broad; flower color ranges from yellow to orange, with flowering from February to September in the northern hemisphere (spring, summer, autumn). The petals close at night or in cold, windy weather and open again the following morning, although they may remain closed in cloudy weather. The fruit is a slender, dehiscent capsule 3 to 9 cm (1.2 to 3.5 in) long, which splits in two to release the numerous small black or dark brown seeds. It survives mild winters in its native range, dying completely in colder climates.

The Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve is located in northern Los Angeles County, California. At the peak of the blooming season, orange petals seem to cover all 1,745 acres (706 ha) of the reserve. Other prominent locations of California poppy meadows are in Bear Valley (California, Colusa County), Point Buchon and numerous other locations.

Its native habitat includes California, extending to Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Sonora and northwest Baja California

Eschscholzia californica was the first named member of the genus Eschscholzia, named by the German botanist Adelbert von Chamisso after the Baltic German botanist Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, his friend and colleague on Otto von Kotzebue’s scientific expedition to California and the greater Pacific in mid-1810s aboard the Russian ship Rurik.

E. californica is drought-tolerant, self-seeding, and easy to grow in gardens. It is best grown as an annual, in full sun and sandy, well-drained, poor soil. Horticulturalists have produced numerous cultivars with a range of colors and blossom and stem forms. These typically do not breed true on reseeding. Seeds are often sold as mixtures.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Amiantos 28/4/2015 by George Konstantinou

Hyoscyamus aureus L. - Cyprus

Hyoscyamus — known as the henbanes — is a small genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. It comprises 11 species, all of which are toxic. It, along with other genera in the same family, is a source of the drug hyoscyamine (daturine).From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Agios Sozomenos 15/5/2015 by George Konstantinou

Yellow hornpoppy or Yellow horned poppy - Glaucium flavum subsp. leiocarpum (Boiss.) X - Cyprus

Glaucium flavum (yellow hornpoppy or yellow horned poppy) is a summer flowering plant in the Papaveraceae family, which is native to Northern Africa, Macronesia, temperate zones in Western Asia and the Caucasus, as well as Europe. Habitat: the plant grows on the seashore and is never found inland. All parts of the plant, including the seeds, are toxic and can produce a range of symptoms up to and including respiratory failure resulting in death FDA poisonous plants database. It is a noxious weed in some areas of North America, where it is an introduced species. The thick, leathery deeply segmented, wavy, bluish-grey leaves are coated in a layer of water retaining wax. The sepal, petals and stamen have a similar structure and form to the Red Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) except the sepals are not hairy. Prolific quantities of seeds are held in a distinctive horn shaped fruit some 15 to 30 cm in length, which is divided into two chambers.

Glaucine is the main alkaloid component in Glaucium flavum. Glaucine has bronchodilator and antiinflammatory effects, acting as a PDE4 inhibitor and calcium channel blocker, and is used medically as an antitussive in some countries. Glaucine may produce side effects such as sedation, fatigue, and a hallucinogenic effect characterised by colourful visual images, and has recently been detected as a recreational drug. For a detailed bibliography on Glaucine and Glaucium flavum see: National Agricultural Library (Glaugium flavum entry)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Mantria 18/4/2015 by George Konstantinou

German Iris - Iris germanica L. - Βουρτουλίτζιν, Βουρτουλισσιά - Cyprus

Iris germanica, the German Iris, is a species in the genus Iris.

Iris germanica grows up to 120 cm high and 30 cm wide. It is a European hybrid, rather than a true wild species. The roots can go up to 10 cm deep and it is a rhizomatous perennial that blooms mid to late spring. If is known to produce the isoflavone irilone.Hundreds of hybrids exist representing nearly every colour from jet black to sparkling whites, except bright scarlet.[citation needed] Varieties include I. g. var. florentina and I. g. var. germanica.

Lifting, dividing and replanting the rhizomes is best done once flowering has finished as this is when the plant grows the new shoots that will flower the following year. The rhizomes are placed on the surface of the soil facing towards the sun and with at least 45cm of open ground in front of them - this allows two years growth and flowering. The plant is held in place by removing half the leaf mass to reduce wind rock and by using the old roots as anchors in the soil. The rhizome is placed on well dug ground and the roots placed either side into 10cm deep grooves. The soil is then gently firmed around the roots, so holding the plant steady. New roots and leaves are created rapidly as the rhizome moves forwards.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Amiantos 22/4/2015 by George Konstantinou

Violet carpenter bee - Xylocopa violacea - Cyprus

Xylocopa violacea, the violet carpenter bee, is the common European species of carpenter bee, and one of the largest bees in Europe. It is also native to Asia.

Like most members of the genus Xylocopa, it makes its nests in dead wood. It is not particularly aggressive, and will attack only if forced to.

Distribution

The range of Xylocopa violacea extends from Europe eastward across Asia as far as central China, restricted to latitudes above 30 degrees. In India, any all-black species of Xylocopa are referred to by the common name "bhanvra" (or "bhomora" - ভোমোৰা - in Assamese), and reports and sightings of bhanvra are commonly misattributed to this species; however, this species is found only in the northern regions of Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab. Most sightings refer to any of several other common black Xylocopa, such as X. nasalis, X. tenuiscapa, or X. tranquebarorum.

In 2006, Xylocopa violacea was reported from Cardigan, Wales. In 2007, it was found breeding for the first time in England, in Leicestershire. This follows a northwards expansion of its range in France, Germany, and the Channel Islands. In 2010 it was recorded in Northamptonshire and Worcestershire.

Description

Violet carpenter bees hibernate over winter and they emerge in the spring, usually around April or May. Hibernation is undertaken by the adults in wood where there are abandoned nest tunnels. In the late spring or early summer, they may be seen around searching for mates and suitable nesting sites. After mating, the gravid females bore tunnels in dead wood, which is where the name "carpenter bee" comes from, although old nest tunnels may be used.

Like other solitary bees, the female creates the nest alone. The eggs are laid within a series of small cells, each of which is supplied with a pollen ball for the larvae to feed upon. The adults emerge in late summer then hibernate until the following year.

Carpenter bees (the genus Xylocopa in the subfamily Xylocopinae) are large bees distributed worldwide. Some 500 species of carpenter bees are in the 31 subgenera. Their common name is because nearly all species build their nests in burrows in dead wood, bamboo, or structural timbers (except those in the subgenus Proxylocopa, which nest in the ground). Members of the related tribe Ceratinini are sometimes referred to as "small carpenter bees".
The genus was described by French entomologist Pierre André Latreille in 1802. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek xylokopos/ ξῦλοκὀπος "wood-cutter". Species in this enormous genus are often nearly impossible to distinguish from one another taxonomically, the majority of species being all-black, or primarily black with some yellow pubescence, differing only by subtle morphological features, and details of the male genitalia. In India, for example, any all-black species of Xylocopa is referred to by the common name "bhanvra", and reports and sightings of bhanvra are commonly misattributed to a European species, Xylocopa violacea; however, this species is found only in the northern regions of Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, and most sightings, especially elsewhere in India, refer to any of roughly 15 other common black Xylocopa in the region, such as X. nasalis, X. tenuiscapa, or X. tranquebarorum

Carpenter bees are large, sturdy, shiny, black coloured bees, some species having yellow markings on the head. Carpenter bees may be mistaken for bumble bees.

The marginal cell in the front wing is thin and stretched and the apex bends away from the costa. The front wing has small stigma. The bee's labrum is concealed by the short mandibles when closed. The clypeus is flat. The thoracic menanotum is presented upright and is part of the rear surface and is almost perpendicular to the dorsal surface. The basitarsi are of the same length as the associated tibiae, and the hind pair of basitarsi are hirsute.

In several species, the females live alongside their own daughters or sisters, creating a small social group. They use wood bits to form partitions between the cells in the nest. A few species bore holes in wood dwellings. Since the tunnels are near the surface, structural damage is generally minor or nonexistent

Carpenter bees can be important pollinators on open-faced flowers, even obligate pollinators on some, such as the maypop (Passiflora incarnata), though many species are also known to "rob" nectar by slitting the sides of flowers with deep corollas.

In the United States, two eastern species, Xylocopa virginica and Xylocopa micans, are found, and three other species are primarily western in distribution, Xylocopa varipuncta, Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex and Xylocopa californica. X. virginica is by far the more widely distributed species. Some are often mistaken for bumblebee species, as they can be similar in size and coloration, though most carpenter bees have a shiny abdomen, while in bumblebees the abdomen is completely covered with dense hair. Males of some species have a white or yellow face, where the females do not; males also often have much larger eyes than the females, which relates to their mating behavior. Male bees are often seen hovering near nests, and will approach nearby animals. However, males are harmless, since they do not have a stinger. Female carpenter bees are capable of stinging, but they are docile and rarely sting unless caught in the hand or otherwise directly provoked.

Many Old World carpenter bees have a special pouch-like structure on the inside of their first metasomal tergite called the acarinariumwhere certain mites (Dinogamasus species) reside as commensals. The exact nature of the relationship is not fully understood, though in other bees that carry mites, they are beneficial, feeding either on fungi in the nest, or on other harmful mites.

Carpenter bees are traditionally considered solitary bees, though some species have simple social nests in which mothers and daughters may cohabit. However, even solitary species tend to be gregarious and often several nests will be near each other. When females cohabit, a division of labor between them occurs sometimes, where one female may spend most of her time as a guard within the nest, motionless and near the entrance, while another female spends most of her time foraging for provisions.

Carpenter bees make nests by tunneling into wood, vibrating their bodies as they rasp their mandibles against the wood, each nest having a single entrance which may have many adjacent tunnels. The entrance is often a perfectly circular hole measuring about 16 mm (0.63 in) on the underside of a beam, bench, or tree limb. Carpenter bees do not eat wood. They discard the bits of wood, or reuse particles to build partitions between cells. The tunnel functions as a nursery for brood and storage for the pollen/nectar upon which the brood subsists. The provision masses of some species are among the most complex in shape of any group of bees; whereas most bees fill their brood cells with a soupy mass, and others form simple spheroidal pollen masses, Xylocopa species form elongated and carefully sculpted masses that have several projections which keep the bulk of the mass from coming into contact with the cell walls, sometimes resembling an irregular caltrop. The eggs are very large relative to the size of the female, and are some of the largest eggs among all insects.

Two very different mating systems appear to be common in carpenter bees, and often this can be determined simply by examining specimens of the males of any given species. Species in which the males have large eyes are characterized by a mating system where the males either search for females by patrolling, or by hovering and waiting for passing females, which they then pursue. In the other mating system, the males often have very small heads, but a large, hypertrophied glandular reservoir is in the mesosoma, which releases pheromones into the air stream behind the male while it flies or hovers. The pheromone advertises the presence of the male to females

Woodpeckers eat carpenter bees as do two species of flies. Woodpeckers are attracted to the noise of the bee larvae and will drill holes along the tunnels to feed on the larvae.  The flies lay eggs in the entrance to the bee’s nest and the fly maggots live off the bee larvae. The two fly species are diptera and bombyliidae.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Amiantos 22/4/2015 by George Konstantinou

Cemetery Iris, White Cemetery Iris, or the White Flag Iris - Iris albicans Lange - Cyprus

Iris albicans, also known as the Cemetery Iris, White Cemetery Iris, or the White Flag Iris, is a species of iris which was planted on graves in Muslim regions and grows in many countries throughout the Middle East and northern Africa. It was later introduced to Spain, and then other European countries. It is a natural hybrid.

It grows to 30–60 cm tal. The leaves are grey-green, and broadly sword-shaped. The inflorescence is fan-shaped and contains two or three fragrant flowers. The flowers are grey or silvery in bud, and are white or off-white and 8 cm wide in bloom. It is a sterile hybrid, and spreads by rhizomal growth and division, as it cannot produce seeds.

I. albicans has been cultivated since ancient times and may be the oldest iris in cultivation. Collected by Lange in 1860, it has been in cultivation since at least 1400 BC. Originating from Yemen and Saudi Arabia, it appears in a wall painting of the Botanical Garden of Tuthmosis III in the Temple of Amun at Karnak in ancient Thebes dated around 1426 BC.

I. albicans is included in the Tasmanian Fire Service's list of low flammability plants, indicating that it is suitable for growing within a building protection zone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Amiantos 22/4/2015 by George Konstantinou

Lythrum junceum Banks & Sol. - Cyprus

Lythrum is a genus of 38 species of flowering plants native to the temperate world. Commonly known as loosestrife (a name they share with Lysimachia, which are not closely related). They are among 32 genera of the family Lythraceae

They are herbaceous annuals or perennials. Typically they have square stems, narrow stalkless leaves, and spikes of star-shaped flowers in shades of purple, pink and white. They are especially associated with boggy areas, river banks and ponds, though in cultivation they often tolerate drier conditions. The species L. salicaria (purple loosestrife) and L. virgatum are found in cultivation.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Kuklia Amachostou  22/4/2015 by George Konstantinou

Tree tobacco, wild tobacco - Nicotiana glauca Graham - Αρκοκαπνός, Γιατρός - Cyprus

Ηostplant of a moth  Death's-head Hawk moth - Acherontia atropos (Linnaeus, 1758) - Cyprus

Nicotiana glauca is a species of wild tobacco known by the common name tree tobacco. Its leaves are attached to the stalk by petioles (many other Nicotiana species have sessile leaves), and its leaves and stems are neither pubescent nor sticky like Nicotiana tabacum. It resembles Cestrum parqui but differs in the form of leaves and fusion of the outer floral parts. It grows to heights of more than two meters.

Tree tobacco is native to South America but it is now widespread as an introduced species on other continents. It is a common roadside weed in the southwestern United States, and an invasive plant species in California native plant habitats.

The plant is used for a variety of medicinal purposes and smoked by Native American groups. The Cahuilla Indians used leaves interchangeably with other tobacco species in hunting rituals and as a poultice to treat swellings, bruises, cuts, wounds, boils, sores, inflamed throat, and swollen glands. Contains the toxic alkaloid anabasine. Ingestion of the leaves can be fatal. It is being investigated for use as a biofuel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Geri 31/10/2014 by George Konstantinou

hemp broomrape and branched broomrape - Orobanche ramosa L. - Cyprus

Orobanche ramosa is a species of broomrape known by the common names hemp broomrape and branched broomrape. It is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but it is known in many other places as an introduced species and sometimes a noxious weed.
It is a pest in agricultural fields, infesting crops including tobacco, potato, and tomato.
The plant produces many slender, erect stems from a thick root. The yellowish stems grow 10 to 60 centimeters tall and are coated in glandular hairs. The broomrape is parasitic on other plants, draining nutrients from their roots, and it lacks leaves and chlorophyll. The inflorescence bears several flowers, each in a yellowish calyx of sepals and with a tubular white and blue to purple corolla.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos Lefka 14/3/2015 by George Konstantinou

Asparagus-pea or winged pea - Lotus tetragonolobus L. - Cyprus

Lotus tetragonolobus, synonym Tetragonolobus purpureus, known as asparagus-pea or winged pea, is an annual herb native to the warm temperate regions of the Old World. It is low growing, and produces a profusion of prominent deep red flowers, followed by seed pods that are longitudinally winged.

It is cultivated for its edible green seed pods, which are one of the vegetables known as asparagus pea or winged pea.

Photos Mirtou 14/3/2015 by George Konstantinou