Montagne Noire, France. I believe these are the male flowers of the chestnut tree. They litter the floor of the forest in the Montagne Noire, in the south of France, where we spent 5 days hiking. Wonderfully varied country, from alpine meadows, to forests of chestnut and beech, to mediterranean heath lower down. There are more nature photos from the trip here. The butterflies in particular were spectacular. It would be nice to identify some of them.

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