Malta 19 April 2012

The main holiday of the year was to Malta towards the end of April. It was hoped there would be opportunities for orchid spotting, but this would have to fit in with other planned activities during the week, and I had decided not to bother with car hire. The buses there are cheap regular and reliable, and Valetta’s main bus station was opposite the hotel. It turned out that Malta is smaller than I had imagined, and the urbanisation of Valetta from the old walled town on a peninsula was considerable, both ways along the coast and inland to almost halfway across the island. This precluded any evening walks in the countryside for instance. And even though it was only April it was towards the end of the orchid flowering season. However orchids were found, principally by the sites of the ancient temples of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra.

The two late Neolithic temples date from 3500 BCE, and lie close to the cliffs on the SE corner of the island. Worth a visit even without the orchids. The ground here is principally smoothly weathered limestone with minimal soil and low lying plants trying to survive a Mediterranean summer.
There were several different orchids in flower and though I am unfamiliar with them I think I have worked out the species present. By far the commonest was what I think is Anacamptis urvilleana. There was quite a range of colours present from mid pink through to near white. A few Anacamptis pyramidalis were also present and just coming into flower. Two species of Orchis were identified. 0. coriophora and 0. fragrans. And to round it off, there was a Serapias, probably S. parviflora, but there were scant and past their identifiable best.

Elsewhere only A. pyramidalis were seen, notable on the hills above Golden Bay.

Click a thumbnail to view the full photograh

                                                   A. pyramidalis          A. urvilleana pink and white forms

                               O. coriophora                              Three views of O. Fragrans

S. parviflora  anybody’s guess

The area                               The temples