Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: Harry Jans on December 08, 2012, 04:41:32 PM
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Dear friends,
Want you to know that two new Photo Albums are uploaded to my website.
Kyrgyzstan trip (April/May 2012) can be found here (http://www.jansalpines.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=32898)
Yemen, Socotra Archipelago (Oct./Nov. 2012) can be found here (http://www.jansalpines.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=32899)
The most special plant I found in Kyrgyzstan was Kaufmannia brachyanthera (looks like a Primula) and Hepatica falconeri. Next to these Tulipa, Androsace, Hegemone, etc. Also two species of Adonis which names are not 100% yet.
My last trip was to the Socotra Archipelago, no alpines, but................ many super plants. The highlight are the Dragon's Blood trees (Dracaena cinnabari). I was very luck to find also the endemic Socotrella dolichocnema and Oldenlandia pulvinata in flower.
Here some samples of what I saw.
8422 = Kaufmannia brachyanthera
8441 = Hepatica falconeri
5985 = Dracaena cinnabari
7087 = Socotrella dolichocnema
4799 = Oldenlandia pulvinata
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So envious of you getting to see Hepatica falconeri!!!! :o
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Wau! Beautiful!
Thank's Harry!
Best Regards! zvone
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Those are some of the coolest plants I've ever seen! The Draceana trees are out of this world. Thanks for showing these.
Didn't know where Socotra was so I googled:
http://yemen.way-nifty.com/blog/2011/11/index.html (http://yemen.way-nifty.com/blog/2011/11/index.html)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socotra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socotra)
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And then you even got to see Ledebouria grandifolia on Socotra!!! Would love to grow that. It looks somewhat like a Merwilla. Not sure the other species, but I've heard there are two other endemics not yet named on Socotra.
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Great trips again Harry- thanks for sharing!
Forumist Frazer Henderson is a great fan of Socotra, he has shown various posts from his trips, for instance here (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=1557.0)
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Very nice pictures harry,especially those Dracaena,s .
Yesterday i saw you on the television at the evening news ;)
Wim
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Harry, I am very impressed of these wonderful pics. I have never seen Dracaena cinnabari in
nature as well as in a picture.
Uli
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here some Adonis from Kyrgyzstan
all A. turkestanica
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Another Adonis and I am not 100% sure about the name.
It is very hairy.
Adonis tianschanica ???
Who knows?
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As always Harry , great pictures and plants . Most of the Socotran plants we don't have seen before !
I wil surely take my time to admire them on your website . Ideal for a cold winterevening like today .
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Great pics, Thanks for sharing :)
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Oh my, Harry ... sensational as always ... Adonis to die for and Oldenlandia ... phew!!!
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Harry,
we got a sneak preview when Diana showed us her pics of Kyrgystan at our local meeting! :)
Fascinating stuff, but as Cliff says that Oldenlandia! Amazing! :o
Looking forward to seeing you in NZ for the Study Weekend in February!
cheers
fermi
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Hello Harry great plants really cheered me up pretty foul weather just now thank you, cheers Ian the Christie kind
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Really intriguing plants Harry - especially some of those from Socotra. These, and Maggi's suggestion to look back at Frazer Henderson's posts led me to search on Amazon for books on this remarkable place. One, 'Socotra, a Natural History of the Islands and Their People' (by Catherine Cheung, Lyndon De Vantier and Kay van Damme), has glowing reviews by several very eminent biologists. A great privilege to visit such a place.
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Tim
That book provides an excellent overview. Chapter 3 covers the flora. I'd recommend it to anyone as a general overview (it's about £40). It also contains a very good bibliography for further referencing and furthermore it is well produced and looks good in one's library.
For those with greater interests in the flora the best book is probably Tony Miller and Miranda Morris' Ethnoflora of the Soqotra Archipelago, published by the RBGE (2004). This weighty tome is a work of real scholarship. It contains a great illustrated key - which I've used in the field. Alas, the photographs in the book have not been reproduced well and call into question the high price (£70). I do recommend obtaining the illustrated key as a separate ring-bound publication. It is considerably cheaper at about £15, I think, but you need to contact the RBGE to get a copy.
One other publication to mention is Joel Lode's Succulent Plants of Socotra which contains 60 pages of photographs (though of variable quality) of almost all the succulent plants in the archipelago. It costs about 10 Euros - handy for a wide pocket when travelling.
Frazer
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I have just come across this thread and the Dragon Blood's Tree forest was amazing. There are some old specimens in the older parts of Adelaide. I do wonder if a certain old tree was saved when an old house on the same allotment was demolished to build a new building or if it went the way of the house. It would have been a great pity as they take ages to get to any sort of size I should imagine. I have tried seeds twice but lost both soon after germination.
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Reopening this thread to add a link to a super video on Youtube -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga4DncsyZj8&fbclid=IwAR0it7dNFbHh6NdAjIxFbS7v9JhZvtYSf4CdqfkJNPIi9KIe-AZTjYOko5c (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga4DncsyZj8&fbclid=IwAR0it7dNFbHh6NdAjIxFbS7v9JhZvtYSf4CdqfkJNPIi9KIe-AZTjYOko5c)
"The Island of Socotra, Yemen is famous for its exceptional natural beauty and biodiversity. Socotra is sometimes called the "Galapagos of the Indian Ocean", it is UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Main locations in the video: Arher Beach & Sand Dunes (0:41), Homhil Protected Area (2:50), Hoq Cave (5:59), Dirhamri marine protected area (8:48), Delisha Beach (9:30), Dixam Plateau (10:54), Rokeb di Firmihin Dragon Blood Tree Forest (13:29), Southern Coast sand dunes and beaches (17:23), Degub Cave (19:18), Detwah Lagoon (20:28), Boat trip and dolphins (24:14), Shu'ab Beach (25:39)"
"
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Thanks Maggi, very nice to see.
National Geographic also published articles in 2012 (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2012/06/socotra/) & 2018 (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/11/socotra-yemen-biodiversity-photography/).
Socotra is now under control of southern Yemeni separatists (see here (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/21/yemen-separatists-seize-island-of-socotra-from-saudi-backed-government)).