Spring Flowers of Croatia

The Croatian Post Inc. has issued a set of three stamps feature Spring flower species as part of their flora series 2012 on March 15, 2012. The depicted species are  Snowdrop ( galanthus nivalis), Primrose ( Primula vulgaris),  and Spring crocus ( Crocus Vernes).

Snowdrop ( Galanthus nivalis)

Galanthus nivalis or Snowdrop is widely grown in gardens, particularly in northern Europe, and is widely naturalized in woodlands in the regions where it is grown. It is, however, native to a large area of Europe, from Spain in the west, eastwards to the Ukraine.

Snowdrops or Galanthus nivalis grows to around 7–15 cm tall, flowering between January and April in the northern temperate zone (January–May in the wild).  They are perennial, herbaceous plants which grow from bulbs.

THE ENDANGERED FAUNA OF CROATIA

 

On 15 March 2011, the Croatia Post  issued the endangered species stamp series in 3 postage stamps. This issue depicts the Elenora’s Falcon, the Brown Bear, and Mediterranean Monk Seal.

 

 

 Eleonora’s Falcon is a smaller species of falcon, 36 – 42 cm long, weighting 350 – 450 g and with wing span of 87 – 104 cm. It comes in two varieties – light and dark – and sexes are distinguished by the colour of eye ring and vax gland. With mail it is in yellow and with female in blue.

 

 

In Croatia there are 80 – 90 nesting pairs, which is somewhat more than 0,5% of the world’s population.  According to newest estimations total world population is 15.000 nestling pairs, of which more than 80% in Greece. Eleonora’s falcon is listed in Red Book as endangered species in Croatia (EN), and is strictly protected by law.

Eleonora’s falcon nests in colonies, laying two to four eggs on mostly unapproachable cliffs of islands at sea, in August and September. Croatia is an edge area for this species, and entire or almost entire Croatian population mainly inhabits the islands of Vis, Svetac and Biševo and the nearby islets, but single birds have also been spotted on the islands of Palagruža and Jabuka. 

Peony Flower of Croatia. 2010

On 8th of March 2010, The Postal Administration of Croatia issued the beauty stamps, Peony flower series. The family of peony (Paeoniaceae) is composed of only one genus of about thirty herbaceous and about ten woody tree peonies spread mostly in hilly and mountainous areas in temperate zones of the north hemisphere. Several hundreds of cultivars (sorts) of different peony species are known which are in horticulture divided according to their flower shape and their size . The chosen species are Wild Peony (Paeonia mascula) and Common Peony (Paenonia Officinalis) which are found in Croatia.

For thousands of years the symbolics of peony has been present in mythologies and legends of many peoples of Europe, Asia and North America: the peony is especially respected and admired in China and Mongolia. Croatian Flora includes three species and several subspecies of peony - all of them strictly protected by the law.

Wild Peony (Paeonia mascula.) is a Tertiary relic (the remainder of pristine Flora before Ice Age) a very rare plant also in Croatia, protected by the law even since 1958. It is a perennial plant, 80 cm high, with tuberous, thickened roots. Numerous, not branchy stalks are upright and bare, overgrown by leaves to the top, on which only one flower develops. The leaves are threefold, composed of integral, shiny, green leaflets. The flowers, up to 10 cm in diameter, have many yellow stamens surrounded by five petals, in colours from pink to purple. The number of petals can sometimes spontaneously increase and all the cultivars have “full” flowers with numerous petals. The Wild Peony blossoms in April and May in sunny habitats of bright and warm woods and shrubberies, at higher altitudes. As curative plant the wild peony is in some areas used in veterinary and human medical care and is a very popular decorative plant.

Common Peony (Paeonia officinalis L.),is rare in Croatia . This species has fragile structure and grows up to 60 cm, has leaves composed of leaflets split in three parts and dark red flowers with five petals. Common Peony grows in bright woods and on grassland, usually on limestones from France to Albania. In spite of its toxicity the common peony has been used in folk medicine for more than 2000 years as an effective remedy against convulsions, and today is mostly used in homeophatic remedies.Now it has been grown for centuries primarily for its curative properties but also for its beauty.

Crabs and Lobster of Croatia. 2007

In continued the isssuance of the fauna theme on stamps series, the stamps series of Lobster have issued by Croatian Post Office on year 2007. The species have depicted are Lobster ( Palinurus elephas ), Norway Lobster (Neophrops norvegicus) and River Crayfish (Astacus astacus).

Lobster (Palinurus elephas).

Lobsters are species of the genus Palinurus – long-tailed or spiny lobsters which are distributed from Norway on the north, along the western coast of Ireland, the western and southern coast of the British Isles (to the north up to the Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands), to the south to the Azores, in the western Mediterranean and the Adriatic Sea and the Aegean Sea. Lobsters can be found in the open deep-sea rocky bottom in the circa-littoral and infra-littoral zone (below the sub-littoral zone of the tide) at the depths of 5 to 70 metres,

They actively migrate in the course of the year into greater depths of the Atlantic to return to the shallower parts of the -coastal area.The body of adult lobsters is covered with a thick shell, an exoskeleton. The adult samples have the total length of between 40 to 50 cm, (maximal length up to 60 cm), and weigh between 6 to 8 kilos. The males are usually larger than the females. They do not grow continuously but through molting, which means when they lose their rigid shell and while their body is soft they grow in length and then their shell gets rigid again. They are omnivorous though their diet is mainly based on brown bullhead, mollusks (snails and shells), shrimp larvae, invertebrate, Pentapora fascialis and seaweed. They are social animals, gathering in groups.The population has been significantly decreasing due to the fishing results and the average smaller length of the caught lobsters.

Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus L.)

Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus L.) often called scampi belongs to the family Nephropidae – crawfish .The animal lives in the soft sediment of the Atlantic Ocean (from Iceland on the north to Portugal and Morocco on the south), the Mediterranean and Adriatic Sea. The densest populations in the Adriatic Sea have been recorded near the island Jabuka/Poma, in the Velebit channel, in the sea of the Kvarner Bay and in Kvarnerić. They live at the depth of between 200 to 800 metres but they can also be found in shallower parts.

Norway lobster dig burrows in the muddy bottom for their place of life. The burrows are 10 cm in diameter, about one meter long and enter the muddy bottom some 20 to 30 centimetres. Norway lobster stay in their burrows during the day, and at sunset they come out to find some prey.Norway lobster are solitary predators feeding mostly on molluscs and other crabs, but they also eat dead animals. Norway lobster live on their own burrow , sometimes share the with other crabs (scampi).

The body of the Norway lobster is slim, orange-pink in colour, elongated and flat laterally. The head and thorax are fused into a non-segmented cephalothorax, while the abdomen consists of clearly segmented carapace ending with a fan-shaped tail that helps the lobster to swim. The first three pairs of legs bear claws. The first pair of claws is very narrow and elongated and has laterally placed longitudinal spiny ridges. Their eyes are large, black and placed on mobile stalks.Females grow to 17 cm in length and males up to 25 cm.It is known that they can live up to the age of 15 years. They spawn once a year, usually in summer.

River crayfish or noble crayfish (Astacus astacus L.)

The river crayfish or Astacus astacus.is one of the four autochthonous species of freshwater decapodous crabs from the family Astacidae that lives in Croatian rivers and lakes. They live in rivers and lakes with clayey and pebbly bottoms and along the coast among the water vegetation. In Croatia they are spread in the waters of the Sava and Drava river-basin, and they have also been brought into some rivers of the Adriatic river-system territory

The river crayfish rarely grow bigger than 15 cm in total length. On the back side the animal is usually dark brown (olive green to black, sometimes bluish or reddish), while the lower side is green-brown coloured. The surface of the body is covered by a strong “shell”, a carapace (exoskeleton), so that crayfish cannot grow continuously. In the warmer seasons of the year they molt – lose their old shell. While they are soft they grow in length and grow a new, strong exoskeleton, usually using minerals from the old shell by eating it.

The river crayfish are nocturnal and sedentary animals, living on the bottom, they are not territorial but show aggressive forms of behaviour in cases when the space becomes a limiting factor. It is well-known that this type of a small radius of movement is characteristic of animals adapted to a habitat.

The river crayfish is endangered by the great quantities of waste matter in water ecosystems, the regulation of water courses and the excessive uncontrolled fishing out. Therefore the river crayfish in Croatia is to the full protected by law . It is also protected on the European level as a rare and endangered species and listed in the IUCN ((International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) Red List of Threatened Species.

Croatian Flora On Stamps. 2006

Croatia Post Office issued the stamps series concerning the Croatian Flora on year 2006. The species that depicted are White Water Lily (Nymphaea alba L), Yellow Water Lily (Nuphar lutea ), and Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata L.).

White water lily (Nymphaea alba L.) .

The white water lily is a freshwater earth-like perennial without a stem. The rhizome spreading wide into several hard roots is laid horizontally in the muddy underwater soil and sends up shoots from which large, leathery and egg-shaped to circular leaves grow up some 30cm in length.Their subtly sweet-scented radials symmetric flowers are hermaphrodite (they have both male and female organs), individually they are large (up to 20 cm in diameter), open almost the whole day and often rise out of the water.The water lily prefers sunny positions in stagnant and slow-moving waters of Europe, north-western Africa and the Middle East.The Water lily rhizome is sometimes used as food, boiled or fried (as it is rich in starch), and in the First World War it was used as the source of the anaesthetic nymphein. However, this plant has for a very long time been considered to be a highly appreciated decorative plant, so a great number of cultivars have been developed, in various colours and with different sizes of the flowers.The Water lily can be found in watery habitats of Croatia.

Yellow pond-lily (Nuphar lutea L.)

The yellow pond-lily or spatterdock is a freshwater earth-like perennial embedded in the muddy soil by the widely spread thick rhizome (8 cm in diameter), which is the favourite food for many animals. It has no real stem, but the elongated heart-like leaves grow out directly from the long stalk attached to the rhizome. The flowers with their faintly alcoholic fragrance are hermaphrodite (they have both male and female organs), they grow individually and are large (up to 6 cm in diameter), with protruding calyxes with circularly spread-out floral parts.In various cultures the rhizome of the spatterdock was used for medicinal purposes (as poultice to treat boils and abscesses and as an anaphrodisiac) and more rarely as food. The plant likes sunny places in stagnant of slow-moving freshwater.In Croatia it is still a relatively frequent plant.

Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata L.)

The buckbean is the only species of its genus in the European flora, spread over the cold and temperate Northern Hemisphere.The buckbean blossoms in May and June, and grows on moist and marshy habitats deficient in air, in sunny patches.The buckbean, also called marsh trefoil, is an aquatic or marsh perennial plant with creeping stems overgrown with scaly sheaths of the leaves which turn into a raised leafstalk 50 cm high. The leaves are basal, alternate and trifoliate, on long stalks wider down at the base.. The flowers are regular and hermaphrodite (they have both male and female organs), 10 to 20 in a vertical bloom cluster on top of a stalk. The medicinal properties of the buckbean were highly appreciated in the past as a remedy for scurvy, the dangerous disease which is the consequence of shortage of vitamin C. In Croatia the buckbean is on the list of endangered herbal genera (EN), but is not protected by law.

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