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CRETE'S WILD FLOWERS

BY ANN LISNEY

As the whole island bakes under the August sun, the only green to be found is provided by olive trees or prized plants in shady courtyard gardens. The summer visitor may be surprised to learn that there is another side to Crete – the vibrant growth that springs up with the autumn rains, and the spectacular array of wild flowers that follows on through the winter and spring.

There is a huge variation in terrain on the island – rocky coasts, sandy beaches, flat fertile plains, different types of rocks and soils, high mountains and deep gorges – and this is reflected in the rich plant life which can be found. It is said that Crete has around 2000 different species of flora, with around 150 of these being unique to Crete.

In earliest times, Crete was covered with trees, but Man deforested much of it in Minoan and Venetian times for construction and shipbuilding. Odd pockets of forest remain, but much of the land is now used for growing olives, for other types of agriculture, for building and the grazing of sheep and goats. Unfortunately the goats – those enormous and picturesque flocks of enchanting multi-coloured animals – wander far and wide and voraciously nibble any new shoots that dare to poke up between the rocks. Nature has an answer, however, and many of the plants that grow in the areas grazed by goats are either prickly or so aromatic as to be unpleasant to the taste. 

This particular type of vegetation gives rise to a fantastic array of plants which a visitor from more northern climes would be thrilled to have in their gardens at home – many varieties of Euphorbia, laurels, a profusion of pink and white Cistus, Phlomis, Salvias, Asphodels, Lavenders, Daphne, Nigella, Irises, Brooms and Cytisus, Thyme, Hypericum and Berberis – to name but a few.

These are just the ordinary, common-or-garden ones.  Let us not forget the stunning anemones that can be found in late winter even in areas where Man has been active, or the many different types of orchid from the tiny and insignificant to the ‘come-and-look’. And what about the fields full of magenta-coloured wild gladioli – and the beaches studded with white daffodils and sea holly?

A wildflower enthusiast, like me, is in floral heaven. Some of my special favourites are Petromarula pinnata, which appears as a clump of tall flower spikes which can be any colour from light blue to purple, and Cretan Ebony, which is a shrub with silvery leaves and amazing pink lupin-like flowers. One of these in full bloom would be a show-stopper at Chelsea!  The wild lupins are also real eye-catchers – they grow in profusion and their deep colour is reminiscent of that of an English bluebell. And for sheer drama, you have to say that the Dragon Arum – Drancunculus vulgaris – takes some beating (but smells something horrid).

And now for the sting in the tail. An elderly lady in our village talks with tears in her eyes about the fields of wild flowers she remembers from her childhood, when at every step she would be crushing something beautiful. She says that what is left now is but a fragment of what existed fifty or sixty years ago. And the reason? Man again, I’m afraid, this time aided and abetted by the chemical companies. So much fertiliser and weedkiller is now being used that many of these incomparable plants are in danger of being wiped out. Remember the stories our parents and grandparents told us of the wild flower meadows of old England? What happened there is happening again here.

So enjoy it while you can. Walk through a field of multi-coloured anemones before it disappears forever. Get right down on the ground and examine the complexity of the Widow Iris, stare in amazement at the Giant Fennel, wonder at the huge flowers of the wild garlic, smile at the curious Tassel Hyancinth. After all, you could be on borrowed time.