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Nature Notes - The Mallorca Pages
Rosales
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These two very common Navelwort species, together with Southern Polypody, dominate the flora of stone walls. On the left is Rock Navelwort, Umbilicus rupestris, and on the right Horizontal Navelwort, Umbilicus horizontalis. The former is the one which occurs in some parts of Britain. Most of the time I could not tell them apart, as they had only leaves, so I don't know which was the commonest. But a few could be identified by early flower-stems (LH pic) or the remains of last year's stems (RH pic).
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 Individual spikes c 3 cm long |
 Flower c 6 mm across |
Also recognisable via this year's leaves (left) and last year's spikes (centre) was the Pale Stonecrop, Sedum sediforme. It too was common on walls. On the right is Mallorca's only saxifrage, the Rue-leaved Saxifrage, Saxifraga tridactylites, which also occurs in Britain. A very low annual, it was dotted along the edges of tracks through the woods.
 Rosette c 40 cm across |
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Plants of the Rose family were very few and far between,
compared to their taxonomic neighbours the Pea family, whereas in Britain we
tend to think of the two as equally numerous. In fact, apart from a few
Rosa species whose exact number is debatable, Mallorca only has 14 members of
the Rose family, of which I was able to find and identify 2. The first is
Salad Burnet, Sanguisorba minor, growing as a garden path weed. This
species is common in much of Britain, but as it's not found in Skye I took the
opportunity to get its photo. The other is the local subspecies of
Hawthorn, which provides the Mallorcans with May in March. It is Crataegus
monogyna ssp brevispina. The British kind is ssp nordica.
Santalales
 Picture c 16 cm high |
 Lower flower c 4.5 mm across at widest |
This is the parasitic shrub Osyris alba, an occasional member of the woodland understory.