Coast The monastery in the previous posting sits on this promontory, where more exciting than the building I found many Narcissus bulicodium growing.

The Mediterranean climate is quite diverse, in the above section of coast we found many terrestrial orchids growing as well as Astragalus, Thyme, Rosmarinus and Lavandula species. The picture of the coast below was quite the contrast, being protected by hills and in the lee of the prevailing winds the vegetation was much higher and included Cistus, Pinus pinea and a mixture of many smaller plants.

Cabo Espichel


Cabo Espichel is an impressive promontory with breathtakingly large cliffs which drop to the pounding Atlantic. Sitting proud, if somewhat neglected, at the end is a sanctuary dedicated to Nossa Senhora do Cabo to which pilgrims would travel and be housed in the now dilapidated lodging houses which flank it. Dating from the 17th century, the church contains typical blue and white tiled representations of religious stories alongside many treasured paintings and a tribune designed for the visiting kings. Situated precariously on the edge of the Cape, a few metres from the main church, is the primitive little white chapel at the heart of the legend of Our Lady of the Cape. Various versions tell the same basic tale that many moons ago a brightly lit image of the Virgin would appear and save sailors from shipwreck in storms. One such lucky soul sold all he owned to build the chapel in her honour, where he would live the rest of his days alone and requested that his crew visit his hermitage every year, hence the annual pilgrimage which continued for many centuries. Cabo Espichel also attracts dinosaur enthusiasts, especially for the rock containing a footprint attributed in the legend to the mare which carried Our Lady of the Cape, but in fact apparently belonging to a dinosaur of which there is much evidence in the area.

A Portuguese Garden Center

Armin Pritcher, the botanist at the Quinta took me to visit a local garden center one morning, the main purpose was to confirm the identification of several of the introduced species in the Quinta. This was a high end garden center and from what I could tell since most of the conversation was in Portuguese and Latin, was family run.


It was hard to believe that this was actually a garden center since it used almost every plant for sale in a series of display gardens. It was surprising to see the quality (very high) the variety and size of the plants being sold and the overall cleanliness of the place.

From palms to olives to succulents the variety was never ending and even though it was a small garden center I could have spent the day there. The olive trees, in 40l pots were quite old, some I was told were over 100 years.

Part of the succulent display.

This Opuntia species was full of fruit.

The Palace of Pena

King Ferdinand II built a palace in the Park of Pena in the town of Sintra just north east of Lisboa between 1838 and 1849. The area including Pena Parque, Mourous Castello, Monserrate Parque and Capuchos Convento is now designated a UNESCO world heritage site. On an afternoon off the faculty and staff from Sussex went there for the afternoon. I have already posted images from the town of Sintra. Pena sits above the town at the highest point in the area and even though it was warm in Sintra it was quite cool and very windy in Pena. The castle was used as a summer palace when it became hot during the summer months in Lisboa.


The carving over the main entrance to the palace, could it be Neptune, the god of the sea?

The palace is built over many levels, however the rooms inside are quite small and somewhat conservative for royalty, although the outside does not denote conservatism. The Moorish style was all the rage during the period and the nearby Monserrate palace is the epitome of Moorish style.

The palace/castelo could have repelled invaders although it was never built for that purpose and there is one spot on the back side where I think one could climb over the wall to the battlements.

A view out to the Atlantic ocean.

We are at this point just entering the palace grounds after spending 15 minutes driving up a very steep hill and another fifteen walking.

A municipal garden.

This was a local public garden around the corner from the Quinta near a restaurant we went to several time. Not terribly exciting but unique architecture and lots of planting.

Mediterranean Wild Flowers

As many of you know I have a passion for the flora of the Mediterranean area. Our nearest example to this type of flora in Ontario is the Mediterranean House at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton. Plants in the greenhouse at RBG will flower the same time as they do in Portugal since RBG and Portugal are on similar lines of latitude and hence have similar light levels which help initiate flowering. Of course, in Hamilton we have to provide supplemental heating, but if you went to the Mediterranean House in March you would notice that for a greenhouse the temperature is quite cool, however the same plants there will be in flower at the same time as those in Lisboa, Portugal. Throughout this section of the blog you will see many unusual plants that were in flower at the end of March, many of which are in cultivation as garden plants and several that are quite rare including several species of terrestrial orchids.



Cistus landanifer, a common shrub found on dry scrub growing alongside many other species of Cistus, Cytissus and Halimum.

A coastal plant, Silene littorea found growing on the edge of a cliff.

A typical beach habitat, found here would be plants like Cistus and Carpobrotus.

Carpobrotus acinaciformis otherwise commonly know as the Hottentot Fig was introduced from South Africa, both it and the yellow flowered species C. edulis are invasive species and rapidly colonise sand dunes. They were thought to be originally grown for their fruit which resembles a fig(does not taste very nice) and their attractive flower.

The dunes in bloom with Carpobrotus acinaciformis.

Lavandula stoechas, Spanish Lavender in bloom, the pines in the background are Pinus pinea, from which pine nuts are harvested.

More Pinus pinea, typified by its flat crown.

I get quite excited about bulbs and got to see many rare species in bloom, this Narcissus bulbicodium I once tried to grow in the Cuddy Garden with little success.

Tulipa orphanindea found growing on limestone cliffs at about 900m above sea level.

I managed to find two Fritilaria lusitanica in flower, this plant is extremely rare and was found growing in dry scrub. It has never been found by previous botanists in the area we visited. Difficult to find, I found both specimens growing under the branches of Cistus sp.

One of the many orchid species found, in one isolated spot beside a road, Orchis papilionaceae.

A common Euphorbia characias in bloom, like the poinsettia the outer petals (green and brown) of what appear to be the bloom are in facts bracts, which are modified leaves.

Ophrys cretica, a terrestrial orchid.

Ophrys speculum, the flower looks like a female bee. A passing male bee will try to mate with the flower and hence in the process cause the polina to become stuck to its body. It will hopefully visit another bee orchid and release the polina on it thus ensuring pollination. The orchid does not produce nectar thus the bee receives no reward other than a few brief moments of excited anticipation followed by frustration. After several visits to such plants the bees become discouraged (fast learners) and will not visit other bee orchids. Thus the bee orchid must rely of a bunch on naive bees for each pollination.

One of my favourite plants on this trip, Astragalus lusitanicus, I hopefully will see this grown as a garden plant (annual in our climate) when I return.

Ophrys lutea, the yellow bee orchid.

Cistus ladanifer with a sunbathing scarab beetle.

Sintra-Medieval Town


On a free day the students went into Lisboa while the staff in a rented van went to the town of Sintra. We spent time at a palace on the mountain (see later posting) and then wandering around the streets trying the local wine, beer and food.





Built on the side of a very steep hill, the vegetation is quite different from the coast at the Quinta.

Snapdragons growing on the roof.

Quinta de São Pedro

As most of you know I recently returned from Portugal. The Biology department took a group of undergraduate students over for a week and I was invited to help with plant identification. I will produce a manual of the flora of the Quinta de São Pedro for future undergraduates since a class goes every year.

Situated on the Settubul peninsula it is about 5km from the Atlantic coast. The Quinta, Portugese for country estate is a reserach station set-up to accomodate university students on ten acres of both cultivated and natural grounds. The students sleep in dorms while staff have comfortable en suite rooms( yes I had a comfortable en suite).

The Quinta is run by Armin Pricher who is an Austrian trained botanist and a very accomplished flute player. On the final night Armin gave a concert in the hall, of flute music from around the world. The two hour concert showcased flutes he had made and collected and terminated with him playing and singing the Samba in Portugese to dancing students. I have a couple of his CD's and will share them with those interested upon my return.

The Quinta is loacted between the Atlantic climate of NW Europe and the Mediterranean climate to the south, and has a very diverse mix of both plant, mammal and insect species.

The Quinta has many soil types with unique vegetation mixes which are representative of the local landscape and include meadows, macchia (scrubland) and garrigue (scrubland groves of pine, eucalyptus and acacia trees). The flora is incredible and as some of the later postings will show even the apparently mundane macchia was in bloom with Cistus, Aspodelhus, Narcissus, Fritillaria and other wild and unusual species.