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Herbarium - North
Cyprus |
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North Cyprus has more to offer than its sun and sea, natural beauties
and historic sites. One surprising attraction is the North Cyprus
herbarium, which charms lovers of our wild flowers as well as providing
a research center for botanists. Most people can confidently name the
more showy blooms in the countryside; shepherds and foresters know
dozens more. But how many of those seventeen North Cyprus "endemics",
found nowhere else in the world, would you recognize? It was to fill
this need that the collection of pressed and labelled plants originally
made by the resident English botanist Deryck Viney in the course of
writing his illustrated Flora of the country was adopted by The Forestry
Department and formally opened to the public, on 9.11.1989. Since then
it has expanded to include examples of nearly all the 1250 native plants
species. And for the guidance of visitors it has special displays of
flower photographs, specimens of all those seventeen "endemics"
photographs of the oldest and biggest trees, and a seperate collections
of bulky fruit. The herbarium is housed in the ALEVKAYA Forest Station
on the mountain ridge between Esentepe and Degirmenlik. It can be
approached either by mountain road or by a lower tarmac road or by
coastal road through Karaagaç or Esentepe. Via the mountain road coming
from Girne, drive past the Besparmak mountain and on top of the hill
make a left turn to ALEVKAYA past the quarry. This is a roughly 9 km.
drive along a narrow road but the views make this route worthwhile. The
other route takes the road, further down the hill, signposted to
ALEVKAYA. You can also reach the Herbarium via the northern coastal road
by turning south either at Karaagaç or Esentepe. |
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