Since a very young kid I remember how the last of summer had such an abundant burst of flowers of this species. And with it so many bumble bees, bees, butterflies and insects of so many kinds were buzzing around these hardy plants. For some time it looked as if the flowering would not happen […]
This beautiful and relatively large leaved species was my first and only encounter and the only one still with newly opened flowers. The other plants here were already starting to fade and had lost most of the pink hues and become mostly white. This might also be a natural variance of this species, as well […]
This is perhaps the most impressive of all the rhododendron species I encountered during my travel in Bhutan. Not because it was such a huge specimen, it was in fact a young bush which made these flowers accessible to me, as mature plants have their inflorescences too high to reach. Not because it had such […]
There are many species of rhododendron that might pass you by when you’re faced with huge trees of them in bloom so lavishly that you cannot keep your eyes off them. I caught a glimpse of a different red hue close to the ground and the road. We stopped so I could take closer look […]
You can get a lot of information on the local weather patterns and precipitation by simply looking at the type of vegetation, and in some places you will know that the clouds are hugging the landscape for long periods of time as these long “beards” only grow to these lengths where the moisture is frequent […]
My previous encounter of this species was carrying one inflorescence with flowers just opening, but was exceedingly hard to get up and close to. I was naturally exhilarated to be able to encounter wonderful specimens here that I could touch and admire as close as I wanted. This very location was a veritable garden with […]
Most of us in the western world, and perhaps in particular in Europe, are familiar with the Rhododendrons in gardens and parks and think of them as some of many beautiful flowers in the spring. Me included. But when you see them in the wild – where they have evolved throughout the aeons – you […]
The very last couple of kilometres of road to the plateau of Itatiaia National Park is blocked by the park entrance, and even though you can drive to the camping site by the small dam, it’s not worth it! You’ll miss all the magnificent flora and fauna along the dirt road. In the rainy season […]
The very last couple of kilometres of road to the plateau of Itatiaia National Park is blocked by the park entrance, and even though you can drive to the camping site by the small dam, it’s not worth it! You’ll miss all the magnificent flora and fauna along the dirt road. In the rainy season […]
The very last couple of kilometres of road to the plateau of Itatiaia National Park is blocked by the park entrance, and even though you can drive to the camping site by the small dam, it’s not worth it! You’ll miss all the magnificent flora and fauna along the dirt road. In the rainy season […]
The very last couple of kilometres of road to the plateau of Itatiaia National Park is blocked by the park entrance, and even though you can drive to the camping site by the small dam, it’s not worth it! You’ll miss all the magnificent flora and fauna along the dirt road. In the rainy season […]
Altitude 3083 metres.
Altitude 3083 metres.
Altitude 3450 metres.
One of very few purple fruits. Altitude 3450 metres.
One of many species of shrub on Roraima. Please help me classify it – leave a comment 🙂
An endemic plant. I only found a couple with one flower each on my 2 day stay on Roraima. The flower is huge compared to the European heather, which instead has a large number of small flowers. This specimen was able to cling to life in a crack in the sandstone and seemed to have […]
Please help me classify it – leave a comment 🙂
This was the only one I found of the sessiflorus. It’s endemic. It grew underneath an outcrop, and in contrast to the guyanensis it was a big and dense specimen competing with other plants. This one very much resembles the guyanensis, but the flower differs with a lighter/paler red ring around the base of the […]
Yet another hardy plant that finds enough nutrients in a sandstone crack to produce flowers.
Endemic to Roraima and thrives in the most unlikely places – like thi one which has found a crack in the sandstone wall