Ireland Postcrossing

An envelope with the Postcrossing stamp from Ireland 

The Ireland Postcrossing stamp was issued in October 2017 . The international rate stamp depicts the basic process of Postcrossing - sending a postcard to someone and receiving a postcard from another person in the world ! The stamp was designed by Design HQ using an illustration from artist Cathy Dineen featuring a colourful display of postcards being passed from person to person around the world. 

The other four stamps are definitives from Ireland . 

Wild flowers are one of the definitive series of Ireland 

Seven stamps, designed by the botanical artist Susan Sex, featuring flowers native to the woodlands and hedgerows of Ireland came on sale on 9 September 2004. They were; 4c dog violet, 5c dandelion, 48c primrose, 60c hawthorn, 65c bluebell, €2 lords and ladies and €5 dog rose,  48c daisy- only available in booklets, self-adhesive booklets or self-adhesive rolls.

Five more designs were added on 12 April 2005, the 1c bloody crane's-bill, 2c Irish orchid, 7c fly orchid, 10c mountain avens and €10 spring gentian.

Another five on 20 February 2006: 12c autumn gorse, 25c common knapweed, 75c navelwort, 90c viper's buglossand €1 foxglove.

With four more on 1 March 2007: 3c yellow flag, 55c large-flowered butterwort, 78c black bog-rush and the 95c purple loosestrife.

 And a final 3 on 3 March 2008 a 20c thrift, 50c biting stonecrop and 82c sea aster

1. Bloody crane bill - Geranium sanguineum

     This species forms a bushy mound of fine-textured green foliage, bearing a bright display of magenta-pink flowers in late spring, well into the summer. Plants stand up well to a wide range of soil and climate conditions, including hot, humid weather. 

2. Common dog-violet / Viola riviniana

    The unscented, blue-violet flower is always solitaryon the stem, and is open with five petals, the lower of which has a stout, blunt, pale, curved spur which is notched at the tip.  The mouth of the flower is absolutely wonderful to view through a hand-lens or magnifying glass.  It has a pattern of deep purple lines which run into the throat over a paler violet patch, becoming white. The upper petals have a fringe which is over the opening.  The dark-green, heart-shaped leaves are on long, slender stalks. The Irish name is Fanaigse and is a native plant of Ireland. 

3. Magairlain glas Irish orchid / Neotinea maculata

    It is a self-pollinating orchid with a tightly-packed spike (2–6 cm long) of ten to thirty pale, creamy flowers – sometimes with a pinkish cast. Each of these seem to be almost closed over with only the lower, forked lipprotruding from the hood formed by the sepals and upper petals. The erect stem, which reaches 20 cm, arises from two or three basal, lanceolateand, occasionally, spotted leaves. Smaller leaves hug the stem

4. Fly orchid / Ophrys insectifera

     The Fly Orchid is one of the small group of Orchids which mimic insects in order to attract visitors. 'Pollination by pseudocopulation' is the scientific term for this pretence whereby a plant emits the scent and has the appearance of an insect. By this impersonation, an insect is drawn to the orchid and while trying to mate with the flower, pollen is gathered onto its body to be distributed onto the next orchid. Fly Orchid is quite distinctive with its yellow-green sepals and the long, divided, red-brown lower lip of the flower. This velvety lip (or labellum) has a shiny, silvery-white band across it, just below the lip's two little lobes. It also has two tiny little red-brown upper petals projecting like tiny goat's horns. These flowers are carried in a loose spike of four to ten with long bracts curving upward behind each flower. There are usually three shiny oval leaves from which the stem arises, reaching about 45–50 cm.

Cancellations: a nice round cancellation from one of the Dublin county and also a wave cancellation on the postcrossing stamp . I initially thought the wave cancellation was the An Post logo , but the An Post logo has only 4 waves 

Thanks Fabio ! - for the beautiful cover :)