Issue date: 01 Apr, 2008
Two stamps make up the Flora and Fauna series which depict the tulip and the common krestel.
The Tulip is a bulbous flowering plant that blooms in spring and is native to the Mediterranean region and northeast Asia though most hybrid cultivars are grown in mountains and the steppes of Asia Minor and the Caucasus region. The first Tulip seeds reached Europe from Turkey at the end of the XVI century, and it was botanist Carolus Clusius who began its cultivation in the Dutch botanical garden at Leiden. The Tulips or tulipa sp. belong to the family Liliaceae and they are a herbaceous perennials plants growing from bulbs which take around 120 days to flower growing from 30 to 60 cm tall depending on the variety. Plants have typically a stem, leaves and one flower per stem. The colorful and attractive cup shaped flowers are varied in colour and their flowering period lasts about 20 days before withering. Tulips have many varieties and species as they are easily hybridized.
The common krestel or Falco tinnunculus is a diurnal bird of the smaller prey species measuring 31-39 cm from head to tail with a wingspan of 80cm. This species occurs over a large range. It is widespread in Eurasia, Africa and all over the Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic and Canary Islands. This bird's plumage is mainly brown with dark spots with the male having a blue-grey head and tail. The tail is brown with black bars in females, and has a black tip with a narrow white rim in both sexes. They do not build nests and they lay their eggs in a wide range of places such as: old nests of crows and holes in trees and rocks. The egg incubation lasts around 28 days and they feed on small birds, large insects, earthworms, and frogs.
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