The flora of PĂ©rigord in South-West France is abundant and diverse. In this blog you can find, in pictures, brief encounters with several hundreds of wild flowers and plants as they grow here in French Perigord. Following the seasons other species are added. An index of scientific and English names you find below on the right.

Corine Oosterlee is a botanist and photographer and she offers guided Botanical Walks and other activities around plants and vegetation in nature in Perigord. Do you want to know more? On www.baladebotanique.fr you can find more information. For Corine's photography see www.corineoosterlee.com. Both websites also in English.

Enjoy!




April 21, 2020

Oneseed Hawthorn


At this moment there is an explosion of flowering in white. The main responsability for this conflagration is shared by several plants, of which the most important is doubtless Oneseed Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna).







Here you see it, a small tree, behind a cloud of Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris).








How beautiful it is, this Hawthorn! And then, it has a sweet scent!






If you look at a flower in detail you see it has only one style (and one ovary also, but that is invisibly hidden at the bottom of the flower where the fruit will develop). That's why there is 'monogyna' in its name. Stamina with pink pollen surround it.






Oneseed Hawthorn grows in hedgerows, woodland edges and even in the shade in the midst of a forest. Often its branches entwine with those of other trees and bushes.







In autumn its leaves in the shape of little hands turn yellow. Some dark red fruits are still there, waiting for birds to come and eat them.