When we went to the Kuh-e
Pashmaku mountains near the town of Semirom we
hoped to meet well-known
Harry Jans and Chris Grey-Wilson and 2 other guys
in their company.
They were on a plant hunting trip too and had planned to be in Semirom on
the
28th and 29th
of April. It is possible to drive all the way up on the
mountain, but
this time the track was very muddy and slippery. We stayed for the night
on the
plateau, which gave the impression of being in a huge volcano crater. At
an
altitude of 2800m temperatures were very low, some 8°C. It was very cloudy
and we hoped it would not start raining.
Next morning the sky was clear again and on this 28th
of April 2003 we found the
first plants of Dionysia iranshahrii in full flower. They were growing at
an
altitude of approx. 2850m, on the east and southeast sides of vertical
cliffs
The rest of that day we spent waiting for
Harry Jans and his group, we
drove
back down the mountain a bit to get a better view. From this spot we
could see
the beginning of the track leading up the mountain, but on this day nobody
showed up.
In the morning of the next day I made another walk along the ridges of the
beautiful Kuh-e Pashmaku mountain, and
again found many flowering
Dionysia iranshahrii plants together with some Dionysia revoluta. This
morning
I had a clear view all the way to the Kuh-e Dena. In the afternoon we went
down
to Semirom to see if there had some 'strangers' arrived...But as far as we
could
see, we were the only 'strangers' in Semirom! We also went for a search
for
Dionysia mozaffarianii, which is growing very close to this town.
Dionysia iranshahrii was discovered in 1974, and introduced in cultivation
by the
1998 SLIZE expedition.
