![]() The leaves are used to wrap burrata, an Italian cheese. I took this photograph way back in 2005 since when there has been a lot of development and construction on both the Spanish mainland and on Gibraltar itself, but I’m sure the view remains stunning. The leaves are long flat and strap-like, keeled beneath, 12-30mm wide and grey- green in colour.Īnd here it is in the forefront of this amazing view from the summit, which looks down over the busy port town of Algeciras and across the Bay to Gibraltar. It has tuberous roots, which provide a firm anchor and store moisture. ![]() Mainly a lowland plant, the Common Asphodel can be found in a range of habitats including coastal, light woodland, roadsides, rocky slopes and garrigue.Ī medium to tall plant that often reaches up to 1m high. Common Asphodel- Asphodelus aestivus (microcarpus) The flowers are starry and white There are several species that look similar to one another, but in Southern Spain and Gibraltar the two most likely to be seen are the Common Asphodel and the White Asphodel. Members of the lily family, Asphodels are tall elegant but robust plants with tuberous roots and leafless stems rising above tufts of leaves that are long flat and narrow and taper to a point. The flower has been referenced by many romantic post-Renaissance poets including Milton, Tennyson, Longfellow and even more recently, Leonard Cohen. The Oxford English Dictionary gives Homer as the source for the English poetic tradition of describing the meadows of the afterlife as being covered in Asphodel. In Greek mythology, the Asphodel is one of the most famous of the plants connected with the dead and the underworld: the Asphodel Meadows is a section of the ancient Greek underworld where ordinary souls were sent to live after death.
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