Neptune Grass of Cyprus
Beneath the turquoise surface of the Cypriot sea, invisible to the sunbathers on the shore above, lies one of the most extraordinary living communities on Earth. It is not a reef, not a forest of kelp, but something far more ancient and remarkable – a meadow of flowering grass, swaying gently in the current, older than most civilisations. And Cyprus, it turns out, may be home to one of the most resilient stands of this grass anywhere in the Mediterranean. Not an Alga – A True Flowering Plant Many people who encounter Neptune grass – either as tangled brown leaves washed up on a beach or glimpsed through a snorkel mask – assume it must be a seaweed. It is not. Posidonia oceanica, known as Neptune grass or Mediterranean tapeweed, is a true flowering plant, a cousin of the grasses and lilies that grow on land. It belongs to the family Posidoniaceae, placed within the order Alismatales in the monocot group – the same grand branch of the plant kingdom that includes reeds, palms, and orchids. Like any terrestrial plant, it has roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits. It simply chose, tens of millions of years ago, to live at the bottom of the sea. From the Land to the Deep: An Ancient Migration The story of Neptune grass begins…
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