The arrival of spring

Today we have been in Irati, and we have seen that spring is coming slowly, as a multitude of flowers, insects (butterflies and ladybugs ) and some diferents songs of birds.

The flowers come in a beech forest before the leaves of the beech, this is  for the need to harness sunlight to complete their cycle before the dense beech leaves cause a constant shadow to fall.
  HAZEL( Corylus avellana)

Hazelforest (Corylus avellana)in Mendilatz mountain

At first, the hazelnut has been determined to be massively in bloom.
they are of the  Fagaceae family, such as oak, chestnut and beech.

They are monoecious, that is, each plant has two separate sexes but in  differents flowers. The most commonly seen are the male, measuring between 8-10 cm. long.





 Male flowers of the hazel


















Hierba del hígado(Hepatica nobilis)

LIVER GRASS (Hepatica nobilis)
This beautiful plant is the first to go in the woods. Very easy to recognize for this reason, and basal leaves (close to the ground) and trefoil.
We find them in different colors, ranging from white to purple through blue and pink.
Its name comes, as might be expected, their medicinal properties, which was used  the dry plant.

 




SPURGE LAUREL(Daphne Laureola)

The Spurge laurel, as the spanish name(Adelfilla) implies has some resemblance to the oleander,quite common  ornamental plant , and extremely toxic, like this.
He likes forests on limestone, as in this case.

NARCISSUS( N. varduliensis/N. bulbocodium)







All kinds of wild narcissus are legally protected as interesting  flora, and in these two cases, are endemics plants too, that is, they only exist in a small area .In some cases this area may be all or Pyrenees Mountains or Cantabrian mountains, or just a valley or a mountain.



Narcisus varduliensis

golden bells(Narcisus bulbocodium)

OPPOSITE-LEAVED GOLDEN SAXIFRAGE( Chrysosplenium oppositifolium)

This little plant is quite common in  some parts of Irati, and can cover large areas especially in sinkholes (ground subsidence due to the existence of a cave under it) where the moisture is more concentrated.



OPPOSITE-LEAVED GOLDEN SAXIFRAGE( Chrysosplenium oppositifolium)



LESSER CELANDINE(Ranunculus ficaria)

This specimen is the first of its kind to come out in Irati, sheltered from the north where snow still remains on the north slopes. Its leaves, fresh out, may be edible.A little bit later they become and inedible.  In the old days, had been used to treat hemorrhoids.

really bitter

 LESSER CELANDINE(Ranunculus ficaria)

The escilas are a hermaphrodite flowering plants of a certain size, that they are now beginning to sprout in the forest.We can see see their flowers in full swing by late April,  to early May, depending, as always,  of the weather.In that time, and in some places, they are thousands of them, carpeting the entire floor of the beech forest green and blue. This plant is especially important in Irati  because is a part of  a kind of typical beech association in limestone.In the time of massive flowering  we'll talk about it.

SCILLA (Scilla liliohyacinthus)



SCILLA (Scilla liliohyacinthus)