Plant that looks like a lamb’s tail

The small white flowers grow on a columnar stalk that looks like a lamb’s tail hence its Maltese name, denb il-ħaruf abjad.

The flowers are so small that to appreciate the beauty of this flower you should move in close and if possible use a magnifying glass to study the details of the individual flowers.

The white mignonette grows in Europe, Asia and North Africa but has also been introduced in the Americas and Australia. It is now also cultivated as a garden plant. 

Garden varieties can grow up to a metre high but the wild plants found in the Maltese islands hardly ever grow half as tall. 

This species grows mainly in disturbed habitats and is commonly found throughout the Maltese islands. It can be seen flowering between December and May.

Mignonettes were grown in Victorian England in pots and placed on windowsills to counteract the noxious smell of the city air with their scent. In Roman times the plants were used to produce a sedative and to treat bruises. An oil, extracted from the flowers, is used in perfumery.

The yellow mignonette, a species closely related to the white was also of use. A yellow dye called weld was produced from its roots as far back as 3,000 years ago. Dye production stopped at the turn of the 20^th century when cheaper synthetic dyes became available.

The yellow mignonette is also found in the Maltese countryside but unlike its relative it is very rare. In Maltese it is known as denb il-ħaruf isfar. If you are lucky you can find this plant in flower in April and May.

Both species are rich in nectar and pollen and attract large numbers of butterflies and bees. 

This article was published in The Times on 28.02.2012

Scented Maltese stocks

The Maltese stocks is a special plant because like the national plant (the Maltese centaury – Widnet il-baħar) it is endemic to the Maltese islands. It is known in Maltese as Ġiżi ta’ Malta, because it not found growing wild in any other country. 

The Maltese stocks is not considered as a separate species but as a subspecies flowers from March to May. Another race which is not indigenous to the Maltese islands, the garden stocks (Ġiżi komuni) was introduced in Malta as a garden plant but can be found growing wild in a number of areas especially on the fortifications at Valletta, Floriana, Tignè and Manoel Island. 

The Maltese race was first described by a local and two foreign botanists in 1988.

It is a perennial plant belonging to the mustard family. It is very rare in Malta but less rare in Gozo. It is an endangered species and is protected by law.

Other species of stocks can be found in the Maltese islands. 

The Mediterranean stocks, known in Maltese as Gizi tal-baħar, is an annual plant with pale violet flowers. Until 20 years ago it grew mostly in disturbed ground along the extreme east coast of the Malta but has now spread to other areas especially along the Sliema, San Giljan and Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq coast and is much more common than it used to be. 

The increase in range probably started by the dispersion of the seeds when a strong east wind blew them across the Grand Harbour to the other side of the Valletta peninsula from where it continued to expand its range further west. 

This species has an interesting mode of dispersion as, when the seeds have become ripe, the plant breaks off at the base and tumbles in the wind leaving a trail of seeds along the way.

Another species is the night-scented stocks (ġiżi tal-lejl) which is non-indigenous and rare. 

This species is of Eurasian origin and is often grown in gardens, especially in cooler regions, mainly for its pleasant scent which is most noticeable during the evening and at night.

This article was published in The Times on 21.03.2012

A mollusc in the shape of a heart

Rough seas can deposit very interesting creatures on the shore.  

A walk on the beach after a storm can be very rewarding especially for those who do not dive or snorkel and have to rely on the waves to see some of the creatures that live below the surface.

Many creatures are too fragile to survive the pounding waves intact but many mollusc have very strong shells and remain intact even after a considerable amount of pounding.

Cockles have strong, compact heart-shaped shells that can be rolled over the sand and banged without damage to the living mollusc. 

About twenty species are found in the Mediterranean of which ten have been recorded in Maltese waters. 

The cockle shell, known in Maltese as xedaq, is common in sandy bottoms while the slightly smaller edible cockle, known in Maltese as arzella tal-Marsa prefers brackish water such as is found in estuaries.

Cockles are bivalves, that is, molluscs whose shell is made up of two opposing valves attached together by means of a flexible ligament.   

About 9,200 species, of which 8,000 live in the sea, are known to exist. These range in size from miniscule species to the giant clam which can grow up to 200 kilograms. About 230 species have been recorded in the seas around the Maltese islands with another two species live solely in fresh water.

Some species live attached to solid surfaces while others bury themselves in sediment. Scallops one of which is known in Maltese as pellegrina are free living and can escape from predators by clapping the valves together and creating a jet of water to swim away from danger.

Most bivalves are edible although relatively few species are collected for consumption. Nowadays large numbers are farmed in many parts of the world not only for sale in food markets but also for the cultivation of pearls. 

This article was published in The Times on 14.03.2012.

Fascinating organisms

200 lichens are found locally

Last Saturday I gave a lecture about nature photography to group of young people. I was surprised by their knowledge of plants and animals as they were able to easily identify most species of plants and animals that I showed them.

However what surprised me more was the fact that none of them could tell me what lichen is.

This was surprising because lichens are common everywhere being able to grow in the most unusual places including  bare rock and walls even in urban areas. About 200 lichens have been recorded in the Maltese islands but I am sure that with some effort more unrecorded species can be found.

Lichens are unusual because each species is made up of two organisms, a fungus and an alga, living intimately together. This gives lichens the ability to survive under harsh conditions where no other organism can survive.

In some cases the fungus and alga which make up a lichen can be found living separately in nature but in many cases the two organisms have become so dependent on each other that one can not survive without the other.

Lichens do not have leaves or roots and absorb nutrients directly through their surface. This leaves them susceptible to air pollutants which accumulate in their body without being eliminated. 

Lichens can tolerate different concentrations of pollutants with some species dying at lower levels than others. This makes lichens excellent biomonitors and many species are used to indicate levels of environmental pollutants.

Many species of lichen are eaten especially in times of famine despite of the fact that they can be difficult to digest. Many species also contain mildly toxic compounds although few species are poisonous. 

Some species are used to produce dyes including the pH indicator litmus.

This article was published in The Times on 07.03.2012

Wild orchids

Orchids are my favourite group of plants. They are fascinating mainly because they are beautiful and interesting and although there are many species none of them is common.

Orchids have been arousing passions for a long time. In the Victorian era adventurous individuals embarked on orchid hunting trips in central and south America and Asia mainly to collect specimens for gardeners and horticulturalists in Europe and the USA. They often went back home with large numbers of rare species and long tales about their dangerous expeditions. 

Today many orchids are legally protected and it is not allowed to collect or export them. Although illegal trade in orchids still exists modern orchid hunters collect images. They are equipped with cameras, identification books and notebooks and often publish their results in specialist websites. Some restrict their hunting to a particular country or area while others travel and wide.

In Malta orchids can be found from the end of December to early June most species are in flower in March and April. 

Thirty eight species of orchids have been recorded in the Maltese islands. Over the past two decades the number of recorded species has increased partly because new species have been found by plant enthusiasts but also because what was considered as one species, the brown orchid, is now considered to be five different species. 

These species belong to a group known as the insect orchids. Male insects, especially bees and wasps, are attracted to the flowers which look like female members of the species. They land on them and attempt to mate. While their attempts to mate are unsuccessful they unknowingly end up with pollen on their back which is then transferred to another orchid of the same species which manages to trick them into landing on it. 

Some species of orchids enhance their performance by producing chemicals known as pheromones similar to pheromones used by female insects to attract males.

Finding, photographing and identifying orchids is an interesting and challenging hobby that can give days, weeks and months of satisfaction.

This article was published in The Times on 29.02.2012

The things you didn’t know about wildlife and colour

The poppy

Carnival is over, bringing an end to five days of colour that added some cheer to life after weeks of dull cloudy weather. 

For this carnival as in previous years many designers were inspired by the most colourful species in nature particularly parrots, butterflies and fish. 

Colours are used as an effective means of communication giving such messages as “I am good to eat”, “I am dangerous” and “I am a good partner”. 

On the other hand colours are often used as camouflage to hide the animal from prey or predators.

Many fruits and berries change colour from green to red as they ripen. 

Plants want birds and mammals to eat their fruit only when the seeds are fully developed and until this happens the fruit is not fit to eat.

Flowers use colour to attract pollinators, especially insects. 

Bright colours are easily seen against a green background but what we see is not necessarily what insects see because although insects, like humans can distinguish colours, their range of vision is different from ours. 

Insects are able to see ultraviolet light which we are not. Thus some flowers that are plain to us have lines and patterns that guide the insects to the nectar.

Many orchids are shaped and coloured like particular insects to mislead males into thinking that they are females and thus land on them and unwittingly carry pollen from one flower to the other.

This article was published in The Times on 26.02.12)

Surviving the bitter cold

Last Sunday’s sunshine and the relatively warm temperature was welcome especially after the cold wet days that we had been experiencing throughout most of this month. 

As I do on most Sundays I spent the morning photographing nature. I was not expecting any insects but was surprised to see a solitary asphodel bug (seffud tal-berwieq). 

This species which is usually seen from March to May is found mostly on asphodels. It was standing motionless on a leaf trying to warm up its body. It did not move away when I moved very close to it with my camera. 

This was not surprising as even though the low winter temperatures made it lethargic it normally does not bother to conceal itself or run away from danger as like other brightly coloured insects it felt secure in the knowledge that predators, especially birds are unlikely to harm it. Predators learn that animals with warning colours are inedible because they are either foul-tasting or poisonous.  

The presence of this insect made me think about how insects and other animals survive the winter. Many birds avoid cold weather by migrating to warmer parts of the world but in Europe very few insects migrate and their journeys are not as long and regular as those of birds. 

Some adult insects find a sheltered place usually underneath a stone or bark or in a crack in which to spend the winter. Others die as soon as the weather starts to cool but leave behind them eggs or pupae which will continue their lifecycle with the onset of warmer weather.

Malta’s only amphibian, the painted frog remains active throughout the winter as this is also the time when water, which is essential for this animal to survive, is present but the reptiles including the lizard, geckos and chameleon are inactive throughout most of the winter and venture out only on warmer days.

This article was published in The Times on 15.02.2012.