Читать книгу Walking and Trekking on Corfu. The Corfu Trail and 22 outstanding day-walks онлайн

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More like a lily, and sometimes confused with sea squill, is the beautiful showy sea daffodil (or sea lily) that grows in clumps. Its bulb is not usually visible and its large trumpet-shaped flowers appear a couple to each stem. The Latin name Pancratium maritimum derives from ‘all powerful’, probably in view of the plants’ capacity to survive in extreme conditions such as dry salty sand, although it may also refer to the plant’s medicinal properties.

A little further inland flourishing bushes of rockrose (Cistus) with pale pastel paper-fragile flowers enliven the maquis scrub. This habitat is shared with thick masses of headily perfumed broom that colour hillsides and send bees into a frenzy. Walkers with keen eyes will find clearings in light woodland to be the perfect breeding ground for tiny exquisite orchids: an estimated 36 types have been reported on Corfu. Outstanding examples are the early spider orchid (Ophrys sphegodes), the woodcock orchid (Ophrys scolopa) and unusual autumn-flowering lady’s tresses (Spiranthes spirales), with tiny white star blooms on a plaited stem.