Stary night - Glandora prostrata
Glandora prostrata
Also called Lithodora prostrata, shrubby gromwell, or creeping gromwell.
This little plant is native to Portugal, Spain and France. Though it prefers warmer climate it was also found in Scotland, Norway and Czech Republic.
It likes to grow under pine trees or cork oaks where the soil is rather poor and sandy. I found my one quite close to the coast in a protected area where mostly low shrubs and tall pines grow.
Blooming season starts around March and can last until October with the peak in May.
The leaves resemble the ones from Rosemary and are about the same size too. Older bushes lose the bottoms one looking a bit messy and naked.
It is the flowers that draw the attention though. Especially in spring, when the green is so fresh and most flowers bloom in yellow. Intensive dark blue colour with some sparkle is visible from a distance. Even though they are quite small, a large amount on a bush does the trick.
Behind you can see a yellow Gorse bush (Ulex europaeus) in full bloom. They cover they area with their thorny stems which makes really hard to look for all the little shrooms and plants I want to shoot there. But when they bloom it looks like a sea of yellow.
Plus the flowers are edible ;).
See the sparkle?
It looks the same as the one on my African Violets. Quite a beautiful thing.
Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
All photos and text are my own.
Sparkling petals ✨ and the leaves really resemble Rosemary !
If it wasn't in bloom I would probably pick and smell it. Just to make sure.
Love the sparkle!
We appreciate your work and your post has been manually curated by @redheadpei on behalf of Amazing Nature Community. It will be added to the weekly botany curation post. Keep up the good work!
Thank you very much @redheadpei :)
Most welcome @ewkaw.🙂