Flora

During spring, many places throughout the island of Crete are adorned with the purple - blue flowers of the wild lupines (Lupinus varius) which is one of the most beautiful and characteristic plants of the entire Mediterranean area. Lupins, known as loubinia in Crete are annual plants with hairy leaves with a shape of a hand palm consisting of 9-11 leaves usually.

The cretan cyclamen belongs to the family of Primoulides. In many places of Greece, cyclamens are also called "hiropsomο" (i.e. bread for pig), because their roots are eaten by pigs. They grow in the middle of autumn between rock fissures or in the rubble.

The olive of Saint George at Kamara Deliana is aged over 2000 years and is not the only case of monumental trees in the area. Not too far from St. George we meet a whole cluster with monumental olive trees.

At the picturesque village Keramota in province Mylopotamos we meet one of the several monumental trees of Crete. This is the perennial plane tree at the eastern end of the village. The tree in Keramota belongs to the species of Platanus orientalis and its age is estimated at about 2000 years. It is the oldest tree in province Mylopotamos and although it is located on the main road, almost everyone ignores its existence as it is located a few meters further down the road, thus the drivers see the upper part of it.

One of the most beautiful evergreen shrubs that can be met in Crete and in other regions of Greece are strawberry trees (Arbutus Unedo). The strawberry trees are found in all the prefectures of Crete and not only in the western Crete, as locals believe. Indeed at the westernmost part of the island we meet them quite often, while in the mountainous provinces of Kissamos and Selino they cover entire slopes often forming low impassable woods.

Anemones (Anemone coronaria L) are among the most beautiful flowers that adorn the nature of Crete. They are annual plants that can reach heights up to 45 cm and there is only one flower per person. Their name is taken after the wind (anemos in Greek) as the ancient Greeks believed that the wind made them bloom. The Cretans most of the time call them poppies, however poppies belong to the species Papaver rhoeas L. The anemones of Crete plants are poisonous but are very beautiful flowers.

The surrounding area of the old and deserted monastery Kaloeidena near Ano Meros is dominated by rich vegetation of plane trees, watered by a large water spring. But the tree that stands out is the plane tree of Kaloeidena just above the spring as it is the oldest of all the trees that surround the monastery, but it is also the most impressive tree of the whole region and can be listed to the monumental trees in Crete.

Gladiolus italicus is one of the most impressive flowers that decorates the fields of Crete in the late spring. It is distributed across southern Europe, particularly in the Mediterranean. In Crete it is called Maherida (knife plant) due to the purple and pink flowers that are oblong and sharp as knives. Their scientific name also means the same, as Gladius means sword in Latin.