The Flower that Only Grows on Athens' Acropolis
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Loading... - sara harriet
- 07 Feb 2022
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Measuring at just five to thirty cm (up to 12 inches) in height, it is easy to walk past this plant without even noticing it. Yet this modest flower, which is beloved by Greeks and botanists alike, has an interesting history itself.
This unassuming but lovely plant is completely unique — as it only grows on the Acropolis, the ancient hill of Athens, home to the Parthenon, the most iconic structure in the history of Western civilization.
Flower blooms in May throughout the Acropolis hill
The Micromeria acropolitana blooms every year from May until June, when its beautiful flowers emerge and dot the rocks of the Acropolis with notes of pink.
It is thought that the plant has lived on the ancient hill, which served as the center of ancient Athenian political, spiritual, and social life for centuries, since time immemorial.
Discovery of the plant and flower in Athens Acropolis
The plant was discovered in the summer of 1906 by two French botanists, Rene C.J.E. Maire and Marcel G.C. Petitmengin, and was included in their work “In Acropoli Athenarum.”
The Micromeria acropolitana was first classified scientifically just two years later by Austrian botanist Eugen von Halacsy, who described it as “Micromeria athenae,” and later changed it to its current name, “Micromeria acropolitana” in his text “Conspectus Florae Graecae.”
Oddly, the plant appeared to go extinct soon after it was discovered, but it reemerged on the Acropolis in 2006, 100 years after it was first found. It had been included in the Greek state’s official catalogue of protected plants, by order of a Presidential Decree, in 1981, during the period that it was thought to have been extinct. Read More…
