Travelog Europe: I stopped to smell the flowers

Botanicals I observed and photographed in Rennes, France while I was attending the 2009 International Ethological Conference.

Notice the lavender in my hair. It smelled lovely. I kept it to pack with my dirty clothes to keep them from fouling the rest of my luggage....and remember the calming effect lavendar has (function & behavior post)

Lavender. Can you see the bee on the flower?

A hibiscus, I think

A morning glory variety.

Cultivated daisy like flowers along the walks. I love daisies!

Another cultivated daisy variety along a sidewalk.


Oh, the dredded sticker bush with it's prickly waxy leaves. As a kid I hated having to confront this bush when a ball or toy got away.

A berry from a bush.

Common shrub plant I saw along many walks and in front of people's front doors. The leaves were mottled with a yellow color. If you know the name, or a related plant, let me know.

The little flowers hidden in the grass and clover where every where. They look very much like the tall wild flower in the U.S. called Daisy Flea Bane. I wonder if the species are related. I learned from a colleague at the conference that it is common all over Europe and called "Little Goose Flower" in Germany.
Little Goose Flower and the broad leaf grass that it comes from. This flower is found on lawns ans seems as common as our clover flowers - which they also have in France (no pictures) and is more fragant than I remeber our clover flowers to be.

A cultivated flower that looks like the "Little Goose Flower"

Cultivated flower bed in a park.

A few grasses and clover grasses in the cultivated flower bed