Archive of Wildflower Species

found on Gastromeni, Trivlaka Bay

Early on, I realized that the number of flowering species on my hillside is not static. In my first year of photographing, an impressive mullein (Verbascum sinuatum) arose in the ravine beside our house, but the following year, it did not reappear. I learned that it is a biennial, so I had hopes of finding it the next year. The skeleton of that first plant remained in the ravine for years, but I have never again seen a mullein in bloom on my land.

Some plants established themselves following our intervention in the landscape. For example, after we bulldozed a road to our back door, the roadside was colonized with a thick stand of mustard (Sinapis alba). This plant grows on "disturbed" ground; by bulldozing, we had provided the means for it to flourish. Poppies and crown daisies, ubiquitous on the island, were not at first in evidence on my hillside. But they appeared in profusion after a neighboring shepherd offered us several bags of goat manure from his mandri (goat milking hut) for use in our compost.

Acknowledging this state of flux, I am including in this archive all plants I have photographed on our land (except those in the garden that I have deliberately introduced), as well as plants found just outside the stone walls of our property but which I have yet to see on Gastromeni itself. That is, I have considered Dyvlaka Bay to the south and the middle bay of Trivlaka to the north to be part of the hillside. Those species not yet found on Gastromeni are denoted in the archive with a double asterisk.

Click on the family name to see photos of all species in that family

**beside a name means I have found it on the Trivlaka/Dyvlaka hillside but not yet on Gastromeni (our land)

I claim no expertise in plant nomenclature. All identifications are tentative, and many are merely wild guesses.

To make matters more confusing for us amateurs: Since I began this project, several families have changed their names (i.e. Umbelliferae is now Apiaceae) and dozens of species have been renamed and reassigned. I'm trying to keep up, but these changes mean that classic, standard reference guides are now out-of-date. Therefore, I've included both old and new names to aid in my searches.

I reiterate that I am foremost a photographer. My identifications are often merely a stab in the dark. Identification for many plants will remain uncertain, because my images are more often based in artistic considerations rather than on salient characteristics of the plant.