Centaurea lancifolia

Centaurea lancifolia photographed in August 2008 and August 2010 near the summit of Mavri at 1900m. To my knowledge these are the first photographs of the entire plant as well as the first photos of flowers ever taken.

The photos marked "Past flowering" were taken in August 2008.
In August 2011 I went a little earlier (and the flowering season is a little later) and managed to catch the plant at its best. Unfortunately the photos are not of the best quality as they were taken from the slope across the cliff. I would have needed a longer telephoto (something like a 500mm) but it is not something that I am likely to ever buy - too expensive and too specialized a lens.

The other alternative which would be rappelling down the cliff is not so straighforward either as the cliff is higher than a rope length so it is not just the straight matter of rappelling down to the bottom of the hole and making one's way out scrambling up the other side.

The bottomt image shows the site where the plants were found (by Nick Turland in June 2008). Note that there is still snow in it. The hole is huge, about 70m deep and over 100m across.

You can click on the pictures to enlarge.