Let’s flower-up the day.
Buhač / Tanacetum cinerarifolium
Buhač or Dalmatian Pyrethrum is one of the forgotten ones. You’ll find it dancing across Dalmatian fields, as gentle and beautiful as a daisy or chamomile. Its long stem lifts its flower far above the grass, letting it float on the wind like an overfed butterfly. And this little bugger will stretch its kneck above everything nearby just to catch a breath of fresh air.
Previously it was used and even exported as a natural insecticide, “pyrethrum“. Whilst today is a flower that many don’t know its name. During the 20th century, Brusje – one of Hvar’s many villages left behind – exported Buhač.
Just like Brusje, many small villages all across Dalmatia were built on petals of Mediterranean flowers, such as lavender, sage, or rosemary. Today, many of these fields are abandoned and they became a home to a stunning wilderness of beauty.
This native plant to Balkan is also called a Lady daisy.
History talks about its discovery, chemistry about its uses, economy about its worth, and the flower itself – about its beauty.
Caper / Flinders rose / Capparis spinosa
Caper bush grows all around the island. It’s quite common to find it growing out of stone walls (stone houses).
Its widespread and firm roots don’t need much water to turn into an astonishing sight. Just a drop of lime, from time to time is more than enough for a mesmerizing sight.
Its pistil is simply beautiful. The flower is full of small thin strings, rising towards the sky like helidromes for bees. Purple, yellow and white that go so well together, just like Purple rain. I should buy myself a suit of that color, and have it for “serious” meetings, to get the tension off.
Capers are collected by locals and sold for a ridiculously low price, compared to the ones you pay in supermarkets. And not to mention the quality of each product.
In the kitchen, they can be used in endless ways. Only imagination is the limit.
