Small beauty among the rocks.

Centranthus Calcitrapae is a Mediterranean annual cycle plant, that lives in dry wasteland, but can also be found in walls or rock faces.

 The arrangement of the small, pink flowers, which look like an umbel, is quite characteristic; the leaves on the stalk are greatly divided, but the ones at the base are only dentate; there is not much chance of mistaking it for other plants. 

In 1816, this plant was published in Curtis's Botanical Magazine with a list of various other Valeriana species.  The plant pictured here, identified as Valeriana montana rotundifolia, is now known as Centranthus calcitrapa.  It is a hardy perennial, native to southern Europe.

It is not a proper Valeriana and so it has no known sedative effects or medicinal uses.

I found this specimen in a location near Mahon that has such a peculiar name as Dalt Gibraltar.

the deceiving Mirror Orchid.

Ophrys speculum is a very beautiful and very rare flower which is hard to spot but worth looking for. It is also called Ophrys ciliata (BIVONA-BERNARDI, 1806.)

Lateral sepals bear brown reddish streaks and petals are brown, short and winded onto themselves backward. The lip is characteristic with a shiny blue mirror surrounded by a yellow margin and bordered with long brown reddish hairs. 

The unusual shape and colours are a successful attempt by this orchid to fool the male of a species of scoliid wasp into mistaking it for a female. Both the insect and orchid have brown hairs while the mauve spot looks like the sky being reflected on the wasp’s wing.

The flower also produces a chemical similar to pheromone that is produced by the female wasp. The deception is so complete that the male scoliid wasp lands excitedly on to the flower and attempts to mate with it.

Mimicking female insects is a strategy used by insect orchids to attract male insects. In most species, the insects mimicked are bees and wasps. 

Blooming from March to May. The mirror orchid is found across the Mediterranean region, from Portugal to Lebanon but is absent from Cyprus and northern Italy. On the other hand, it is protected on the whole Spanish territory.

Coprinus Comatus

It has been the rainiest March on Menorca's  records since 1911.

And after a particularly wet winter, which seems to been over by now the sunny days have make nature reborn. In a stroll around the middle of the island some new flowers and mushrooms can be found.

Coprinus comatus, the shaggy ink cap, lawyer's wig, or shaggy mane, is a common fungus often seen growing on lawns, along gravel roads and waste areas. The young fuit bodies first appear as white cylinders emerging from the ground.

In Menorca is called Barbuda and it is edible. The taste is mild; cooking produces a large quantity of liquid. It can sometimes be used in mushroom soup. Large quantities of microwaved-then-frozen shaggy manes are delicious when used as the liquid component of risotto, replacing the usual chicken stock.

Holly Week in Mahon.

Holly Week commemorates the Passion and Resurrection of Christ in the Catholic countries.

Mahon has its own devote processions, specially the Good Friday one that took place yesterday.

The processions are organized by hermandades and cofradías, religious brotherhoods. Members precede the pasos dressed in penitential robes with curucutxus, (tall, pointed hoods with eye-holes).

The curucutxus were designed so the faithful could repent in anonymity, without being recognised as self-confessed sinners .

At the centre of each procession are the pasos, an image or set of images set atop a moveable float of wood. The sculptures themselves are carved and painted, and often lifesize or larger. All of the principal images of the Semana Santa are on display for veneration in their home churches all year round.

Some of the different churches brotherhoods in Mahon:

Cofradia de Nuestra Señora de la Piedad y San Juan Evangelista.

Santa María Parish. Mahon.

 

 Confraternidad de Centuriones de San Cornelio

Cofradía del Via Crucis. 

Sant Francesc Parish.

Cofradia de la Parroquia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen.