Almond tree - Prunus dulcis

The Almond trees (Prunus dulcis) are in bloom in the hills above Malaga right now. Yesterday I talked to a man who grew up here and he said that this was the earliest that the Almonds have ever bloomed. I´m note sure when the Almonds have blossomed in the past but January 26th does seem rather early. I wonder if the fact that we have been having an unusually warm month has anything to do with it.

Dates aside, the Almonds are very beautiful when they are in bloom. Their blossoms are a light shade of pink that makes an interesting contrast with the dark brown, almost black bark color of the tree.
There are a lot of Almond trees around Malaga. A few days ago while driving back from Granada I saw whole hillsides of Almond trees in full color. Makes for a very attractive landscape.
When the Almond fruit grows to maturity it becomes a green seed pod with soft, velvet like exterior. As it ripens this turns dark brown and eventually peels off revealing the hard shell of the Almond beneath.

European Yew tree - Taxus baccata

The European Yew tree (Taxus baccata) has in centuries past been called the "tree of eternity" for its longevity and for the fact that it begins to grow again even after several hundreds years.

In England it is very common to see Yew trees next to churches. In most of these cases the Yew predates the Church. Because the Yew was considered a sacred tree prior to the introduction of Christianity many churches were built close to them.

The flat blade like leaves grow along the length of the new stem branches.

The tree in these pictures is located in the "Fuente del Berro" park in Madrid, Spain.

Pedunculate Oak tree - Quercus robur

The Pedunculate Oak (also called English Oak) is the tree that most people think of when the name Oak tree is mentioned. It is in fact the type species for the genus Quercus (Oak trees). Its native range is very extensive including Most of Europe, Asia Minor and part of North Africa.

The tree that I photographed for this post is located in Spain where the name used is "Carvallo".
I found this tree while on an outing looking for the "Sacred Chestnut of Istan", a tree that is quite famous in the south of Spain. I discovered that the Giant Chestnut was not the only impressive tree in the forest above the town of Istan. In addition to this tree I also found a whole stand of very old Cork Oaks (Quercus suber). Both of these Oak species produce large accorns that are one of the main sources of food for wild and domestic pigs. In fact when I ventured into the stand of old Cork Oaks I flushed out a large wild boar who had been rooting out the fallen accorns.
I don´t know how old this Pedunculate Oak is but judging by its size and by the other trees nearby it must be at least 400 years old if not older.

Bottlebrush tree - Callistemon rigidus

The Bottlebrush tree is a small flowering tree that derives its common name from the shape of its bright red flowers which as you can see in the image above look a lot like a bottle brush. This tree has a close cousin called the "Weeping Bottlebrush tree" (Callistemon viminalis) that is somewhat more popular as an ornamental tree than this one. The difference being mainly that the "weeping" variety has branches that droop down while this one´s are more rigid.
The flowers grow on the ends of the branches and after they fade a series of "knobs" are left in their place that stay of the tree for a year or more. These knobs also create an interesting ornamental effect.

From my observation the C. rigidus has fewer flowers than the c. viminalis although the flowers themselves are very similar. In both cases the flowers grow along the length of the new stem.