On the plant side of things (which, in retrospect, is a very… extensive side compared to my prior post just for spiders) I’m also easily impressed as a non-plant person.
These olive trees are apparently an invasive-ish species, but they’ve been all around this part of the country for as long as I can remember, and I never really paid them much attention until last year when I encountered them in bloom for the first time. And, by the gods, they’re actually amazing? Not only are those flowers super cute and vibrant, but they also smell like artificial banana flavoring! A mind-blowing encounter if I ever had one. They’ve been making me smile whenever I pass by one on my walks ever since.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/286276902
As implied by the name, common tansy is, well, pretty common. It apparently even grows in my area, if sparsely. But personally – I have never seen it or knew about its existense until I randomly came across a bush in the Carpathian mountains and fell head over heels for it right then and there. I’ve seen them a few times in the mountains since then, so I’ll attach my favorite observation. It’s such a neat plant! No petals at all, it’s all plush and juicy yolk! How cool is that?
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/320726466
Again with common plants – a celandine. But this one was super special. Not because of the plant itself, but because it managed to grow on a roof of an old abandoned house. It’s always fun to find plants growing on structures that used to belong to humans, but to find one so large and pretty is extra special <3
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/364098362
A wild carrot I found recently! Again, a pretty common sight in the local fields. But this specimen was doing everything at once. Flowers? There you go. Seeds? Sure! Would you like them young and green or mature and with a wonderful bronze tint from the setting sun? Everything all at once, on just one tiny herb. You go, tiny herb!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/395598339
I have to give my saltwater coastal environment credit where it’s due – sturdy flowering plants that manage to adapt to it tend to look otherworldly. And one extra special plant I was lucky to find last year was this little german statice. All dried up under relentless summer sun in the middle of a wilted prairie, it looked like rusty wire covered in tiny white flowers. 10/10, no notes.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/308881258
Speaking of alien plants, this spring I got lucky in the mountains and found Herb Paris in bloom! Well, I learned that it’s Herb Paris once I came back home and uploaded it to iNat, but at the moment of discovery I was just ???
I didn’t know that looking like that was an option for a flowering plant??? I owe you an apology, alien little thing, I wasn’t familiar with your game!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/365090885
This one is another invader. I know now that it’s not supposed to be there. I know that it’s an aggressive weed. And it does color my memories with a twinge of sadness because of that.
But the first time I came across it in the mountains, its giant bushes surrounded a tiny flooded path to a river stream on both sides like giant blooming walls – a vision straight out of Miyazaki’s films. I’ve had many fairytale-like experiences in the mountains, but few of them quite as memorable as this.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/225849531
Buglosses are pretty common in the local fields, including these fuzzy pale ones. And they do look cool and memorable in general, don’t get me wrong! But this summer I happened to go out in the evening as the sun was starting to set, and suddenly the whole field was glowing like in a video game when you select interactable items. My photos don’t do them justice, but in real life it was a core memory kind of experience.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/375300428
First time I spotted love-in-a-mist out in the field from afar, I was ready to get angry that someone threw out their plastic flowers out there. But as I came closer, it turned out to be a real genuine flower? How is it for real??? I’ve observed these several times now, but to be honest I’m still half-convinced it’s a mirage that came to me in a dream.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/375037827
I am filled with gentle love for all kinds of mosses, but this one is on a whole other level of magical. Every patch is like a field of teeny tiny translucent green flowers for fairies to hide under! I wish they were more widespread (or I was more lucky), but then again, with how secretive they are – it’s all the more fascinating to find a fresh patch in damp secluded areas of the forest.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/226315891
Glassworts feel… not so much alien as they do anachronistic. It felt so weird to learn that they originated in Miocene. Walking though the salty mud fields at the edges of Kuyalnik estuary felt like I got transported way back to the Devonian.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/229260855
And last but not least for today, because this post is unreasonably long as is (and I should’ve been in bed… like two hours ago), my first encounter with horsetails! I’ve loved ferns since I was a kid, but had no idea that they had this kind of amazing cousin that also survived to this day in its perfected form since the Jurassic.
That is, until I decided to explore a new part of the Carpathian mountains last autumn. We arrived to our chosen tiny town in the middle of the mountains several hours before sunrise, and with nothing better to do – went straight into the forest using the first trail we’ve found. It was a long and freezing cold walk, with most critters still asleep and the rest of them – barely discernible in the dark; and I was reaching a point of annoyance inches away from proposing we return the way we came and search for whatever warm place could be open at 5AM in this middle of nowhere. And then my phone flashlight caught something odd in the distance.
At first I thought I was just tired and nightblind, but as we came closer – the sight before us indeed turned out to be a forest clearing filled to the brim with these gigantic alien plants. The feeling of awe that overtook me immediately turned off all my other feelings and kept me warm and vibrating with joy all the way back to civilization, lol.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/320552250
