Alpine flowers in the Peloponnese mountains in spring can be short lived due to the dry warm climate.  While hiking up to the Rivoli Plateau above Kalamata in April 2016 at an elevation of about 1000m a fine example of Tragopogon samaritani was growing in the middle of a stony path.  This rare plant, a member of the asteraceae family, is only found in a few places in this part of the world and generally as a single isolated example. 

Our botanist friend who was leading our trip has been exploring the Mani to photograph plants for 10 years and has only seen it 3-4 times and only as a single plant.

Tragopogons share the common name of Goatsbeard.