What an interesting question - and poignant too. It's not often that we, back home, get to hear about the beautiful parts of Iraq.

I was thinking something like Scillia peruviana, which is a mediterranean flower but may have naturalized that far. http://www.mediterraneangardensociety.org/plants/Scilla.peruviana.cfm and I came across some other sites as I was googling: http://www.jordanriver.jo/SubPagegreen/JordanInBloom.asp#
http://www.mediterraneangardensociety.org/plants/

I don't know how much these will help, but they might be a start.

Be safe,

Eva

Are you familiar with Cleome? There is a Cleome native to Iraq. It's a bit spiny.

There is a Flora of Iraq published in English. I'm close to an excellent botanical library and could try to look it up for you if you can give me as much despcription as you can come up with. Color of flowers. size and shape of individual flower. Size and shape of leaves. Arrangement of leaves. Do they swirl around the flower stem? Are most of them clustered at the bottom of the flower stem? Do leaves grow directly across from each other along any stem, or are they staggered? Are the edges of leaves smooth, jagged, saw-like, wavy? Are the leaves hairy, spiky, prickly, shiny, bumpy, shrively? Smell of plant (not just flowers). Height. Whether woody. Condition of soil it grows in. Roots--fibrous and spreading close to surface or tap rooted. Color in root. Are roots woody? Are there bulbs? Rhizomes? If you can, look close and tell me if all flowers on the plant look the same, or if some have differnt parts than others (male & female flowers?). Whether individual flowers are all open at once or if some seem to open first, then maybe days later others are open. If so, do you see a pattern to the flower opening?--top to bottom or bottome to top? Do you see seeds or pods? What do they look like?--single seeds? Long narrow pods with two, three, several, or a lot of seed in each? Round seeds, flat seeds, heart-shaped, pea-like, smooth, fuzzy, winged, feathered, spiked?

Anyway, with as much info as possible I can try and look this up for you.

Don't suppose you have a digital camera, or one of your friends?

Take good care of yourself, come home soon.

I don't know anything about the flower. But I would like to echo the above statements.

Please be safe, take care of yourself & come home soon!

Tammy in Sunny Surprise Arizona

I'll pray for your safe return.PJ

Books on wild flowers in Iraq and with pictures are rare as hen's teeth, and the few available Floras are not illustrated as far as individual plants are concerned. From your mention that the leaves look more like a Thistle, and the seeds flying in the wind, it sounds like some kind of Compositae. Maybe a Cirsium (Thistle), but there are so many Cirsiums and thistle-like plants in the family throughout the Middle East (Centaurea, Carduus, Eryngium, etc., etc.), that Clare's suggestion for a full description is going to be the only way out, at least towards some good suggestions of what your plant might be.

By the way, if you ever happen to get up north in the mountains near the Turkish border, especially in the triangle formed by the Big and the Small Zap rivers, look for the very rare hardy Pelargonium, P. quercetorum. Big plant with stiff, shiny, maple-like leaves and large heads of pink flowers. Grows in rocky clearings in the oak forests. I grow it here, but would sure love to see pictures of it in its natural habitat. I keep making plans to travel there myself, and then "World History" intervenes every time. Good luck and keep your powder dry.

Globe thistles (Echinops spp.) are true thistles and have Allium-like spherical compound clusters, and there are many species in southwestern Asia.

Hi,

It's nice to hear about someone enjoying nature in Iraq. I spent time in Saudi and thought it was beautiful.

Take lots of pics. Then when you get home, get a copy of Shiela Collenette's book, Wildflowers of Saudi Arabia. It covers the plants there extensively and there will be a lot of overlap in the flora of the two countries.

Seen any wild irises? Or the weird tree form of milkweed (the bot. name escapes me now)? You might see that cultivated or growing wild in dunes.

Take care and enjoy the people, flora, and food. We never hear enough about the good stuff there, but you can enjoy them I hope.

Greg

hi everyone,i am a baghdad born,Dutch gardener,,i was looking for seeds of 2 plants grow in Iraq,one is a tree iraqi calls it (NABOG),im not sure if its a Ficus family,(Ficus Sur or Ficus Capensis),it preduces a small apple-test fruit,the size of a a thump,,the other one is a climber Iraqi calls it (LEEF OR LEEFA),this climber preduces a big sponchy flower,,i was told that some Iraqis use it for bathing !! (^_^)
i'll be very delightful if someone can help me finding seeds of these plants,,also if anyony knows where i can buy flora of iraq books,,please let me know,
best of luck to all of you

I don't have anything to contribute in the thistle area. I want to say how proud I am of our service men and woman everywehere, and that I am also praying for you.

P.S. Your right about CNN.

I share the hopes and prayers for your safe return, butterfly lady. I'm delighted to read that you appreciate the local flora.
I'm a Vietnam Vet and loved to study the flora of middle Vietnam, never having been exposed to tropical plants. Lots of vines and palmettos, wonderful trees. The forests for miles around Quinon were all cut down to provide firewood, a huge problem in 3rd world countries.
Norm

First, be safe.

Second, what you are describing sounds like types of thisle we have in SW Colorado. They are consider noxious weeds. Please be careful about bringing back non-native plants that can end up causing problems here. You may also not even be allowed to bring back seeds for this very reason. My suggestion would be to appreciate them where you are and let them stay there.
No disrespect intended...

I am in Mosul Iraq and have seen some beautiful flowers also. I am still perusing this forum and dont see if we can post photos or not. So far the dark blue thistle are everywhere and also a flower that looks like a thin and dainty tulip. A Kurdish friend told me the name is Bitanok. She learned english by watching "Friends" so I am not sure if that is the correct spelling.

What's a wildflower for you is certainly a wildflower here too. The thin and dainty tulip is probably a wild iris - they are gorgeous, and have a short season, so enjoy them. Here it's also the season for the dark blue thistle, and the joshua trees, a wild purple frothy tree that means the hot, hot summer is on it's way. I doubt your internet there will allow you to access anything with the name of my country, (this forum loves people to post but where you are or your own military screens might not allow the pics to go online) so while you're there, take as may pics as you can. We have lots of wildflower guides, as it's a very popular hobby here, as well as books about the wild herbs and medicinal plants that grow wild. Stay safe, sarah, and I'll think of you when looking at the wild things all around.......Batya

The only tried and true test that I know that is being used to assess invasiveness today is bring the seed/plant in and let it move around a region for 60-100 years and then decide if its a problem. If it is you won't have to worry about it as its now the next generation you have given the problem to and you don't even have to apologize to anyone - you'll be dead!