FLORA - SPECIAL INTEREST TOURISM

Flora

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It was to fill this need that the collection of pressed and labelled plants originally made by the resident English botanist Deryck Viney in the course of writing his illustrated Flora of the country was adopted by The Forestyr Department and formally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.