Story By: William McGee, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
This picturesque field of violet-coloured flowers in Russia is almost completely destroyed after it was discovered by Instagram influencers who flocked there for photos.
The field of violet flowers is in the Tomsk Oblast region, in the Siberian region of Russia and has been discovered by Instagrammers, much to the chagrin of local biologists.
The flower, whose scientific name is phacelia tanacetifolia, is commonly known as lacy phacelia, blue tansy or purple tansy and is native to the American Southwest and north-western Mexico. It is used in Russia as a bee plant.
Pictures Credit: CEN
Its resemblance to lavender has led to the Russian meadow being dubbed the “Siberian Provence” or “Tomsk Provence”
However, the scenic field has been under threat since its discovery by selfie-lovers, so-called “influencers” and wannabe models, who have flocked to the location for a snap or two, trampling the flora in the process.
One Instagrammer writes: “There are lots of cars on the roadside and a dozen girls posing and just as many guy photographers in the field.”
Employees of the Siberian Research Institute of Agriculture, to whom the 20-hectare field belongs, have warned that the careless crowds are taking their toll on the plant life and have requested they stop driving through the field and trampling the flowers, which grow to a maximum height of around one metre (three feet).
The institute’s press secretary, Daria Savelyeva, told a Russian state news agency that visitors even come to the field to hold weddings and stated that the reserve was almost destroyed.
Signs were erected on 2nd August instructing visitors to avoid the fields. However, it does not seem to have dissuaded the legions of Instagrammers, whose selfies are seemingly more important.
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