COVER N. 309 - SERBIA

Postmark: Novi Sad 21117 29.08.2023

Posted on the 29th August; Received on the 6th September 2023

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What a nice set of stamps Antea used to send me this letter from Serbia. Thank you so much Antea. I really like them.

Wild flowers are without a shadow of a doubt absolute masterpieces of creation. Their colours, shapes, odours, sizes are a declaration of diversity and if there is one thing that I like is to walk amidst wild flowers covered fields in springtime.

Most of the time they are pretty photogenic also, and another of my pleasures is trying to photograph them. One cannot imagine how beautiful wild flowers really are  until one observes them in detail, and photographs are great for this.

Peonies, for instance, are absolutely lovely... they are so large and contrasting in colour to the bronzish green of their leaves with those fuchsia petals and yellow stamens, that they immediately stand out as a gift of coulour.

 Not the same species on the stamp on the cover, but I couldn't resist getting this shot from my collection of flower photos, to illustrate my thoughts.

and here is the cover:

Stamps, left to right:

This lovely wild flowers of Serbia set was issued as a four 30 dinar stamp se-tenant strip on 13APR2022. Each strip also included a vignette in the central position of the strip, so that the central part of each stamp sheet containing 5 strips was occupied by a vertical illustration also of botanical nature.

The flowers depicted on the beautiful illustrations are the greater pasque flower (Pulsatilla grandis), which blooms in Easter, (hence its name) of the Ranunculaceae family;

Another member of the Ranunculaceae family, the Aquilegia Nikolicii is endemic to the teritory of the ex_jugoslavia;

And yet another Ranunculaceae, the  Pheasant's eye (Adonis vernalis), which althoug existing in Serbia has a far wider distibution, ranging from Spain to the West Siberian plain. Of note is the fact that although toxic, this plant has medicinal uses, namely as a cardiac stimulant.

The last stamp of the strip is a rather curious Peony: the Steppe peony (Paeonia tenuifolia), native to the Caucasus mounbtains. Its compound leaves very dense in number are deeply divided, this being the reason for the flower also being named the fern leaf peony.

Postage on the cover was completed with a couple of 5 Dinar stamps from a definitive set issue on 24FEB2020 also illustrated with images of wild flowers (photographs, this time). The flower, or better, the inflorescence depicted is that of the Common Chicory (Cichorium intybus), another case of a flower that we are all so used to seeing that we don't stop to take a closer look, because if we did.... it is such a beautifull inflorescence... the colour, the delicate lateral petals.... totally amazing.

The Postmark hails from Novi sad a, city on the banks of the danube in the north of Serbia, and I guess it is quite a fittting place for the cover, since Novi Sad means New Garden....