petromarula pinnata insects to pollinate and eat it

this amazing perennial, which I found on my land, has a prolific seed formation. Apparently pollinated by insects, it yields the seeds to other insects, and for the second year round, I see the pods (each bearing 3 seeds) without seeds, as they are consumed by insects before I can collect them. I thought of insecticide spray, but I would like to hear any comments as to what, when and how to use it.

Dimitri

If the eggs are laid by the same insects that are pollinating them, it would seem there is little you can do about it, but somewhere the seeds must have survived. If the insects eating the seeds come later, maybe you could try bagging a few blooms to see if seeds will survive and escape the insect. This reminds me of my peaches, which are pollinated by bees and other insects but already have a tiny egg in the bloom, which will go on to become the worm that eats the peach from the inside out. If I spray the trees with dormant oil during a cold month before blooms appear, the worm will not develop, and the peaches can develop unhindered.

Oooooh Dimitri, you're sooo lucky to have this lovely plant. I remember seeing it in the Samaria Gorge and on cliffs in the west.

Sorry i have no ideas to help you overcome the insect problem, but wish you all the best in solving it :)

Hi, philomel!!

Someone in DG alerted me on this plant. I m also amazed, and since last year I could find no seeds, I thought I would keep my eyes peeled and manage it this year. Well, it looks like the insects got there before me. Not all hope lost, though. I noticed lots of it near a road and I will be harvesting as much as possible, in the hope to get some seeds in the end.

Dimitri

I had to look this one up as I'd not heard of it before, it's a beautiful plant!

I hope you can find some seeds that haven't been eaten by the insects, it will make a lovely little plant for your garden.

Hi Baa !!

It is not a little plant. I already have about 4 plants, wild, and one of them produced (I counted them) 28 stalks of flowers about 60 - 80 cm tall each. It grows on the most minute crack of a rock or an old wall, it keeps ok in the summer drought, but if you water it, it doubles and triples in no time. I am trying to provide some seeds for you in DG and also some for me to cultivate it on tame soil and see how good the leaves are - it was used in salads by the locals, but now they gave it up for supermarket greens - they are easier off the shelf you see.

More news later. For sure, next year it is going to be insecticide spray as early as possible.

Dimitri

Hi Dimitri

I had no idea the leaves could be eaten - seems like sacrilege LOL. I was so excited when i first saw this plant after searching for it. Once i saw one, then i saw them 'everywhere' (well not quite, but as with many things, once you have your eye in they're easier to see again)

it's endemic to Crete, so no chance of seeing it anywhere else naturally in the wild. Should you find some seed i would really love some, i was always in Crete too early to collect seed. Though it might be cruelty to attempt to grow it in this climate - too cool and wet for it to flourish i'm sure. You never know though, one day i might get that greenhouse, or devise some other plan!
:)
Hilary

This sounds like something that would thrive in Texas! I don't know if there is a way to get seeds here, but would surely be interested in trying it. Is there a site where I can see a picture? None of my books has it.

Hi Dimitri my friend!

You're right of course! I should wear my glasses more often, I read 1ft instead of 1m :) I'd love to know what the leaves taste like.

Aimee here are the google pics I found

http://images.google.com/images?q=petromarula+pinnata&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

You probably need to find a book or site specialising in Cretan plants Aimee.
You might find in a library 'Wild flowers of Crete' by George Sfikas, ISBN 960 226 052 1, which shows it. Also in 'Flowers of Greece and the Aegean' by Anthony Huxley and William Taylor, ISBN 0 7012 D848 1
HTH :)

Should have known you'd beat me to it, and with a website Debby, LOL

Sorry Philomel! I had the site already up while I was reading the posts. Crete has an amazing flora, I will really have to make a trip out there.

Baa, thank you, and my face is red! University of Texas is one of the schools I attended, I live less than 36 miles from it, I even use the co-op to eshibit my vintage writing instruments, and it took a lady in UK to find that photo from a UT lab for me. I always go to my books, and then forget to do an online search. You are teaching me, but I sure am a slow study. Thanks, my friend.

It is a nice looking plant, and if this chap has photographs, maybe someone has already brought it here.

Just a wonderful place. I recommend the springtime - orchids and other wild flowers everywhere, migrant birds passing through and still cool enough to walk without flaking out from heat exhaustion LOL.
Dimitri may have other ideas?

Crete's flora is wonderful, and if anything, not looked after at all.

Now, petromarula has a most exotic flower, but this quickly loses its beauty in the heat of the summer because te many stamens dry up and ruin the picture of flowers higher up on the stalk.

The taste is cool like lettuce (In Greek, marouli = lettuce, hence petromarula, the lettuce that grows on rocks) and gets a bit bitter if not watered enough.

I still need to see a beautiful cultivated specimen - I remember the first picture I saw of it was in a net place called the weird dude's plant zoo or something, I thought it was very funny as a brand name, and still the photo was pathetic. As for me, there may be some pics in a drawer, but better wait for another year; I may take it as a purpose to photograph it. Yet, when you live near a beauty you rarely think of photographing it.

Please nag me for things like this. I am always busy and I need some encouragement to help me remember.

Best wishes. And do come to Crete, May or whenever - it is always lovely (July - Sept. too hot but bougainvilleas bright and in full blossom, Oct - Dec. cool. sometimes rainy sometimes sunny, nice for photography. Jan - Feb you may get the most peaceful lonely sunny walks on the beach or pick olives in the groves or aromatic oranges, March is windy and full of green horta (=weeds, hence horticulture etc) of all sorts, April with cherry blossoms better than those in Japan (so said some friends from Kew Gardens who visited Gerakari) and the Orthodox Easter, and the year goes round. I got carried away..

Dimitri

You lucky $%£*, to live there Dimitri.
Sure i've got some photos of this plant tucked away somewhere. The trick will be to find them.
I've always been in March/April/May and found it totally captivating. Hope i'll be back some day!

Dimitri

Many, many thanks for the translation, while helping out on the Botanary, I looked for days to find the correct Greek and couldn't find it! I always learn something everytime I read your posts :)

April and May sounds like a wonderful time to visit Crete and a perfect opportunity to get away from the British Spring! Horticultural heaven! My uncle and aunt are always telling me I should visit Greece and the islands in the Mediterannean, hearing about it from you has confirmed their advice for me.

Philomel you are so lucky to have been already :)

Aimee

It's always my pleasure! Please don't blush, my first instincts are to rely on my books too, I always try and back it up with the RHS because there are so many plants on the web that are incorrectly named but in this instance they don't list Petromarula at all.