There is not so many blue wildflowers around. Comparing to yellow and pink at least. So it wasn't very hard to notice the little blue balls even from a distance. There quite a few of them growing among slowly drying up grass. And even though the wild area where plants grow freely, they only appeared in one small spot under some trees (can't remember what tree it was now... pine or cork).
Jasione montana
This small blue flowers, also known as Sheepbit can be found in most part of the Europe. It does like warmer climate a little bit more though according to observation map.
The ones I found were growing in an open space not far from the coastline full of grasses and smaller bushes. The soil there is very sandy and the area heats up quite a bit during the summer.
Flowers are about 2 cm across and start to bloom as early as in April. The season for them ends with the end of Summer.
If you take a closer look on the photos you will see some tiny little white start among the blue petals.
And here is a fun fact:
The flowers are visible under ultraviolet light and it is believed that this makes them attractive to pollinating insects.
source
I also got a little bonus on them :)
This little black fly and some spidermites were the only creatures I found on the flowers.
Stay still!
Here is a cool graphic of the plant from 1796:
Next time I see them I will pick some seeds and dump them in one of my big post with mixed flowers :) Oh yeaaaa..
»«
Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
All photos and text are my own.