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Crete, Greece
Married to the lovely Geoffrey, my soulmate. I have two fantastic big kids,both married, whom I love and miss every day I'm not with them, but I know they're living and loving their lives and we make up for time when we get together.I now have three granddaughters too...

Thursday 23 April 2009

Everything Comes To Those Who Wait

Throughout the season I've shown you many stunning examples of the wild and sometimes rare flowers we have here.
But for me this is the most stunning of them all. It's Dracunculus Vulgaris or Dragon Arum. It stands about 3 feet high and lives in the shady undergrowth of the olive groves.
The first time I saw one was about 4 years ago, we were out exploring in the car and I saw this flash of colour. The car screeched to a halt and I was out scrambling about trying to get close enough for a decent shot.
I've had my eyes peeled for any signs of them flowering for a couple of weeks now and I was finally rewarded yesterday.
I love the colour, it's so rich and sensuous. The texture is velvety, though it glows like satin.
The leaves too are beautiful in their own right. The stem is stripped like a tiger but sadly my photo was rather blurred.
Soon the undergrowth will be filled with these wondrous plants but for now I'm enthralled by the singular rareness of my favourite plant. Some might say it's too showy but I think it has a darkness to it, as it emerges from the bushes like an alien. It's life is very short and soon it looses it strength and collapses, deflated.
As with all things that are so beautiful, it does have one flaw......
it stinks like rotting flesh.
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22 comments:

arosebyanyothername said...

I bought one of these in the floating flower market in Amsterdam a couple of years or so back. I did not know what it was. I potted it up and waited. I was very impressed with what grew but it was banished to the end of the garden when we realised it was the source of the aroma of decaying flesh (mice in the wainscot we presumed.

Cheryl said...

It's so gorgeous and peculiar at the same time. I love it. I'd have to picnic with it.

Chris Stovell said...

Oo-er! That was so big I could hardly download it! Worth the wait though, spectacular and eerie (not surprised about the smell!).

Amanda said...

Wow! What a stunning plant. There's nothing quite as over-the-top here, but I still love seeing the wild spring flowers as they start to emerge in the hedgerows, it's a mini-miracle every year.

Pipany said...

Good lord Jude, don't quite know what to say to that! x

Mim said...

it's really quite something...

soulbrush said...

what amazing photos. wow, they don't even look real!

Daisie said...

WOW!!

Shame about the smell but we can't all be beautiful and smell delicious like you and me :-)

xxx

ArtistUnplugged said...

That is a gorgeous plant...sad that it is so smelly! Thanks for sharing photos of it!

Kitty said...

Wow what an amazing plant - the colour is beautifully intense. x

sukipoet said...

wow thanks for this adventure into rare and exotic plants. i do love that color esp in relation to the leaves.

TIGGYWINKLE said...

Had visions of it making a dramatic singular display, when you mentioned the smell. A shame and such a stunning colour.

Lynn Cohen said...

Absolutely beautiful. Oh interesting that something so beautiful stinks! Yuck!

Genie said...

That is a beautiful plant apart from the smell. Great pics Jude
have a good weekend

Faith said...

That really is a purple COO! flower. Amazing. The smell doesnt sound very appealing though.

Art Space Gallery said...

That's an amazing plant - and to think that I was thrilled to see a clump of cuckoo pints when driving away from Newlyn yesterday. Love the colour too.

Katiejane said...

This is a simply stunning plant! I once owned a "starfish cactus" that my mother-in-law gave me that had a beautiful star shaped flower that smelled horrible. I wonder if they are related? It's truly a beautiful flower though.

Melanie said...

Oh wow, that's something else. Gorgeous!

bindu said...

What a lovely colour! So deep and rich. I smell the fragrance of honeysuckle from outside as I read this, so no rotting flesh smell online - thankfully!

Jackie said...

Who cares about the smell. Its so beautiful!

Chris Daly said...

I'm so glad you posted a picture of this flower. I had heard of it and never imagined such glory!

Morna Crites-Moore said...

Wow!