The flora of Périgord 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!




December 30, 2020

Holm Oak

This big tree has green leaves even in winter. Sometimes it forms real forests, mainly on dry limestone hills, but not only there, in Perigord there are some exemples on sandy soil. It is Holm Oak (Quercus ilex). 



 

Yes, it is a real Oak, it makes acorns.



 

 

Here they are still small. You see mainly the cup from where an acorn tries to grow out. Remnants of the female flower are still visible like a tiny brown star.



 

Holm Oak has Autumn and Spring at the same time. The leaves, that can stay on the branches for several years, loose their chlorophyl and then fall down in May. In the same period the tree makes new sprouts and flowers. Young leaves are tender green and they as well as the new branches are covered in a kind of whitish felt.



At the top of this stem, where the leaves are attached, you see some very small female flowers. The dry brown scales are remnants of the leaf buds.

 


 

Male catkins are much larger. They grow on the same tree.

Holm Oak grows slower than other Oaks from Perigord, but it can stand hot and dry weather somewhat better. Climate changing, with hotter and dryer summers is no good news for Oaks, but this species could have a slight evolutionary advantage over other Oak species.

It is a wild - indigenous - tree, but in Dordogne there are many strains coming from elsewhere. Mycorrhized with truffle mycelium, Holm Oaks are planted to harvest this tasty and expensive mushroom.

 





December 10, 2020

Blackthorn

The blue fruits, sloes, are edible but only after the first frost, otjerwise they are to acid and astringent. They grow on a small very thorny bush, Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa).  



 

It is very common in Perigord, you can find it at the limits of woods and along abandoned agricultural fields, especially on limestone soil. Blackthorn makes new stalks from its roots, and in a few years its branches can form literally impenetrable hedges.

 


 

 

Somewhat frightening!




But spiders love it.




 

Apparently it is a good home base for lichens.

It is one of the first Prunuses to flower in spring and it does this abundantly. Here below the flowers lost already their petals.

 


 

Only the little brushes of the stamens are still there. And now, we have to wait for fruits.