Blue throatwort

Blue throatwort (Trachelium caeruleum L.) is a flowering plant from the Western Mediterranean that lives in rocks, cliffs and damp walls. “Caeruleum”, the second part of its scientific name, means blue in Latin, a clear reference to its flowers, which are small and grow in the form of very attractive, umbellate (umbrella-shaped) inflorescences (groups of flowers). During the al-Andalus period, their crushed leaves were used as an anti-inflammatory and were applied to the affected area in a poultice. Given its beauty and its useful properties, it is likely that it was allowed to grow on damp walls in the Alhambra, as happens today. This plant finds excellent refuge, for example, on the walls of the staircase leading up to the balcony overlooking the Partal Pond, where it flourishes alongside another very beautiful plant, the maidenhair fern (Adianthum capillus-veneris L.), one of the few ferns in the Alhambra.