Sea Daffodil season

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Lilies beach 3.jpg


I remember some time ago I saw a few posts with these flowers and I knew I had to find them (I think it was @fotostef that was showing them). I knew they did grow around here. I have seen the leaves in late spring and then dried-up flowers in the autumn. I even saw some seed pods, but I never got to see them in full bloom. And that is because they do bloom in the muddle of the summer, and I tend to avoid beaches at that time and go usually out of season.

Lo and behold!
I finally got them after years of being too year or too late.

Pancratium maritimum



Lilies beach 2.jpg


And boy.. aren't they gorgeous!?

Pancratium maritimum, or sea daffodil, is a species of bulbous plant native to the Canary Islands and both sides of the Mediterranean region and Black Sea from Portugal, Morocco and the Balearic Islands east to Turkey, Syria, Israel and the Caucasus. In the parts of its range on the south Bulgarian and north Turkish and Georgian coasts of Black Sea. It is also naturalized in southern California, Bermuda and the Azores.
source

Yes, they do like the warm climate. Having their bulb dug up deep in cool sand does help. With the sand moving with the wind very often, I only saw short parts of the leaves sticking out. In other places a long stem was exposed and bent down, not being able to hold starlight.


Lilies beach 4.jpg


The large dune area was filled with flowers popping among the dry grasses and some beach succulents. It was quite a stunning and unexpected view, especially since there were no other flowers blooming there.

They are supposed to be scented, but since they are behind a little fence, I could not check it myself. Another time... hopefully :)

With the Atlantic Ocean view :)


Lilies beach 1.jpg


All the white spots are the flowers.
I have to get to some place where I can walk among them. These dunes are part of the Santo Andre Nature Reserve and the whole area is protected.


Lilies beach 5.jpg


Here is a lovely botanical illustration of the plant. There are also more photos (not mine) in the source link.


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Image source


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Shot with OnePlus 7 Pro
All photos and text are my own.



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43 comments
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great that you have finally seen the sea daffodils in full bloom dear friend @ewkaw, to be honest, it's the first time I read about them, I appreciate all the information and the beautiful photographs
beautiful shots

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Thank you! It was great to finally find them. Didn't expect that :)

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So wonderful to see them in those places. Looks like it is covered all over the sand.
Don’t remember seeing them myself before.
Thanks for sharing.
Have a nice evening @ewkaw 👋🏻😊

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You didnt see them in Spain? They should be there too.
But as I said - I kept missing them myself.

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No I didn’t hahaha 🤣
But I spend more times in the mountains 😎

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This would be a very valuable article for an open nature competition :-)

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Ohhh It would. I missed it 😬 I have a template set for the community to post.

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Hi!, what a joy it feels when you achieve something you have longed for or tried for so long, plus the pictures look great. In fact, seeing the landscape around you so dry made me feel very melancholy. I feel the photos as that moment when you stand firm despite how hard the road may be, especially that first photo where the flower is alone and is the image of prsentation (also has to do with the melancholy of my days hehe). Love your post my friend, I wish you success in everything you set out to do...

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Thank you!
Not to make you feel more melancholic, but soon they will die and only dry stems will be left..

They will come back next summer though :)

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These are so pretty. It always strikes me as so odd when you can see these lovely flowers pop up in a sea of dry aridity. Like reminding you that there's always life even when everything seems dormant.

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Yea... I have seem many smaller flowers blooming on dunes, but mostly in spring when it is not so hot yet. These are really tough!

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So you have found them, that's awesome!

They do have a scent but it is mostly noticeable in the evening, or early in the morning. It is good though that the area is protected. I have seen in Greece cars parked on them :(

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Yes! Finally! I still remember the photos you published.

I read they are pollinated by a moth, so maybe that's why the fragrance activates later.

I have seen in Greece cars parked on them :(

Shame... though I am sure it happens here too in other areas. That place is also birds reserve so they grow in peace.

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There are so many beautiful plants growing on sand dunes (where they were not replaced by some Acacia or "Carpobroutus* species). Do you had the chance to see Corema album (camarinha or camarinheira in Portuguese) and taste their white sweet fruits? I absolutely recommend it if you have the chance"

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There was Carpobroutus around there too, but not too much. Mostly some grasses.

Do you had the chance to see Corema album

I don't think I have seen them. Not this time for sure. And even if I did I would never guess the fruits are edible!
We have some bush in Poland with white fruits like that and it is toxic (Common snowberry - Symphoricarpos albus). Also mistletoe... so white berries somehow don't look edible to me :D

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That is completely understandable!! I don't usually recommend picking wild fruits, but in this case you can't go wrong. You can check some photos here and see its distribution also.
I looked for the common snowberry in Inaturalist and it seems we have some in Portugal too, which is not good at all due to its invasive behaviour :/ Thanks for your sharing, I was not aware of this plant in Portugal.

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Oh I know that site and use it often to Identify plants :) It is very handy!

We both learned something :)

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You always amaze me, seeing some of your catches is amazing, they're so beautiful.ini so it's interesting to read.
Thank you my friend for sharing it with us.
Hopefully you can always surprise many people with your catch in the following days😊😊

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Amazing flowers. I saw them at the beach in Ureki, Georgia - they were growing (and blooming) right from the very hot sand. The sand is black there, and it made the view even prettier.

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Oh my that must have looked amazing!! Do you have any photos?

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I do but I am not sure these files are on HDs I have with me. I should check. (If yes, I ll write a post - there were nice portraits there as well).

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When you do please tag me so I don't miss it :)

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After reading the title my mind suddenly clicked to poem of William Wordsworth "Daffodils"

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Nice association. Will have to look for the poem when I get time :)

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That is really neat. I was never aware there was such a thing and it was fun to see in your photos. :)

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Thank you!
I wasn't not away until a few years ago too :) Took me a while to see them blooming tohugh.

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Such a pretty flower, I have never seen one even though I love the beach at any time - as long as it's not for sun-tanning and sweating, that's no fun.

Honestly, I'm glad that they fenced off the dunes. Too many people, sad to say, especially families, don't respect them and the dunes' job i.e. to keep the ocean at bay.

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Oh I hate sun tanning.. I am known for being pretty white all year round :p

It is a large protected area mainly for birds I think. So the plants have a good time there too.

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