I went to check what weeds are in bloom now. The weather was nice (though too hot for my taste) and the spot I normally go to at this time of the year doesn't disappoint. The earliest spring flowers are of course long time gone and I saw plenty of dried up seed pods around (damn.. I missed so many of them!). But there was still a lot of little ones that grow fast, bloom fast and spread the seed before the summer heat comes.
Scorpiurus vermiculatus
It is a very small annual plant that grows in open spaces in a very poor soil. The area when I found it is very close to the coast with strong winds, hot sun and very poor sandy soil (check the last photo) and some pines growing around.
The flowers are about 1 cm across and the while plant is not taller than 10-12 cm.
Elongated leaves are covered in tiny hair (that makes the sand stick to the better :p).
Native to Albania, Algeria, Canary Is., Corse, France, Greece, Italy, Madeira, Morocco, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Tunisia
[source].
It is a typical spring flower and it is the only time to see it. They start to grow in March and bloom soon after. The blooming season will last till around June and then the whole plant will die back. Seeds will survive in the soil until next spring.
There is more weeds that the same flower shape to this one (also from Leguminosae family), but I don't recall seeing other one with those lighter patches in the petals. Very cute :)
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The seed pods got me by surprise here. Much bigger than the flower and from a distance look like green strawberries. It is a long pod though that is rolled to a very compact form.
Now I wish I took a photo of a pod and flower together.
This is how the soil in some places look like. It has been raining not long ago and the puddles all dried up and started to crack. In other places it is just lose sand mixed with soil and some plant mess.
Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
All photos and text are my own.
