Bosque de Bellver

Oxalis pes-caprae is an invasive species that is very prevalent all over the island. It is a beautiful bright green with yellow flowers. 

Arisarum vulgare was also carpeting the space that wasn't already occupied by trees, shrubs or Oxalis pes-caprae.

Lentisco (Pistacia lentiscus) is a very common shrub that I have seen all over the island with very bright berries.  It is a member of the Anacardiaceae family. 

Pinus halepensis is the dominant conifer species here on the island. 

Some wild lavender (Lavendula dentata).

Going after a crustose lichen on a lentisco. 

A little community garden at the foot of the Bellver Castle. 

Checking out some invasive Opuntia that can be seen all over the island.

Anagyris foetida is a beautiful shrub that I have seen a few times during my explorations on Mallorca. This plant is supposedly toxic so do not eat it!

A closeup of the acebuche (Olea europaea var. sylvestris) fruits. 

That cute little ascocarp to the left of the terricolous lichen I believe is Peziza subviolacea. The amazing folks at the University of the Balearic Islands also have a virtual herbarium of fungi! Unfortunately, for those of you that do not speak Castellano or Catalan, there is no English version. Luckily scientific names are universal!

Possibly an Amanita species? I have seen this guy all over the island in mountains and in fields. 

This wood rotter I encountered on a P. halepensis reminded me a lot of Porodedaelea pini.

The flowers of the madroño (Arbutus unedo).

Mallorca

I have been living in Palma de Mallorca for the last 2 and a half weeks and I will continue to be living here until the end of May. Mallorca is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea and thus has a Mediterranean climate.

I am living in a city of 400,000 people so the majority of the plants I have seen are cultivars planted around the city like palms, many tropical species, olive trees, and various shrubs.

I was able to go hiking about a half hour north-east of the city near a town called Valldemosa in a very rocky, semi-arid landscape. The landscape was mainly dominated by a species of 2 needle Pinus and a couple differentQuercus species. There was an abundance of lichens and mosses, and I also spotted a few ferns. Unfortunately October is not really the best time to look for flowers but there were some representatives from the Asteraceae and Scrophulariaceae (if it still existed).

Here are a few pictures of what I have been talking about:

The view of the sea from a point on my Valldemosa hike

A very cute moss I saw saw frequently with very long, silvery awns

These orange crustose-foliose epilithic lichens are everywhere in the city of Palma. Maybe a nitrogen loving species like Xanthoria?

And here is a fine specimen of Olea europaea, or olive, that was growing in Palma.

I saw plenty of cubical brown rot on my hike but no mushroom fruiting bodies to check out. Once it starts raining, hopefully that will change.

I also hope to go visit a few botany professors at the University of the Balearic Islands to borrow some books so I can start keying species out!