Experience Nature – The Flora of Bonaire

On 12 August 2024, PostNL will publish Experience Nature – The Flora of Bonaire, a sheet of 10 stamps in 10 different designs. The stamps each bear a value of 1 for mail weighing up to 20 grams with a destination within the Netherlands. The price for a sheet of 10 stamps is €11.40. The stamp sheet about the flora of Bonaire is part of the multi-year Experience Nature series dedicated to the Caribbean Netherlands in 2024-2026. In the series, 4 stamp sheets will be published every year, each featuring 10 different stamps. The stamps depict plants and animals that occur in this part of the Netherlands. With thousands of species of plants and animals, the islands in this area have a level of biodiversity otherwise unknown within the Netherlands.

In 2024, attention will be paid to the birds, butterflies, marine life and flora of the island of Bonaire. With the fourth and final release of 2024, Experience Nature – The Flora of Bonaire, the starring roles are reserved for the goat’s foot, dividivi, melon cactus, holywood, red mangrove, lady of the night, dagger cactus, sea purslane, Dutch casha and prosopis juliflora.

Just like Sint Eustatius and Saba, the island of Bonaire is a special municipality of the Netherlands. These three islands are collectively known as the Caribbean Netherlands. Together with the countries of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, they form the broader Dutch Caribbean. Bonaire covers an area of almost 29,000 hectares, which translates to one and a half times the size of the Dutch island of Texel in Europe. Around 24,000 people live on Bonaire, most of whom speak Papiamentu as their first language. Their main sources of income are tourism and salt production. The island is a popular destination for diving holidays and cruises. Bonaire has been a special municipality since 2010, meaning that the island council is responsible for local legislation as the highest governing body. Executive power lies with the island deputies appointed by the island council, chaired by the governor. The island has a relatively abundant amount of nature. To the north lies Washington Slagbaai National Park, with cactus forests, aloe fields, rocky outcrops, salt lakes, limestone caves, sand dunes, blowholes and crumbling limestone terraces. The park covers over 4,200 hectares and became the first nature reserve in the Netherlands Antilles in 1969. Meanwhile, Bonaire National Marine Park has been a legally protected underwater park since 1979. It surrounds the entire island, as well as the uninhabited island of Klein Bonaire. The reserve covers over 6,600 hectares and includes coral reef, seagrass and mangrove forest. Klein Bonaire is itself also a legally protected nature reserve. Surrounded by coral reef, the island is home to salt lakes where red flamingos come to forage, as well as important sea turtle nesting sites.

The character of the flora on Bonaire is mainly determined by the prevailing tropical steppe climate, which in turn is closely related to its geographical location. Bonaire is located in an area of severe drought, constant winds and high even temperatures. The rainy season lasts from October to January, and the rapid evaporation of precipitation is amplified by the constant easterly trade winds. The geology of the island also determines which plants and trees grow there, with volcanic rocks inland and young coral limestone and sandy and clay soil on the coast. The flora on the island consists mainly of plants, shrubs and trees that have adapted to the high temperatures and evaporation rates and can withstand long periods of drought. Plants have water reservoirs in their stems and leaves. Trees tend to stay low with flat crowns. Shrubs often have thorny trunks and branches with leathery leaves that are indented to catch less wind.

Source: De plantenwereld van onze Benedenwindse Eilanden (“The Plant World of Our Leeward Antilles”)

The stamp sheet Experience Nature – The Flora of Bonaire is created by the graphic designer Frank Janse from Gouda. On the sheet, 10 plants, flowers, shrubs and trees are each portrayed on a separate stamp in their natural environment. The following species are featured: goat’s foot, dividivi, melon cactus, holywood, red mangrove, lady of the night, dagger cactus, sea purslane, Dutch casha and prosopis juliflora. All photos appear in a graphic layer with circular shapes that are also visible on the sheet edge. The images also sometimes continue onto the adjacent stamp and the edge of the sheet. At various places on the stamp sheet, the designer has added graphic elements that are borrowed from the symbols on old topographical maps. These symbols are used to indicate aspects like the shape of the landscape, contour lines, vegetation, terrain and watercourses. The design is also characterized by an additional transparent layer containing monochrome images (both white and in colour) of some of the main plants featured on the stamps. The monochrome images are rendered in almost abstract form, running over the perforations and connecting the stamps to each other and the edge of the sheet. The following images are included in this way: a goat’s foot flower (upper left), sea purslane leaves (upper right), holywood flowers (to the right above the middle), a goat’s foot stem and leaves (running from centre left to centre right across the width of the stamp sheet), holywood leaves (bottom left) and dagger cacti (bottom right).

The typography is based on DIN 2014, a font designed by Vasily Biryukov from Bulgaria and released by Paratype in 2015. In the captions on the stamp sheet, the designer Frank Janse creatively and humorously expresses his associations with the names, characteristics and appearances of the plants chosen to represent the flora of Bonaire.

In the coming years, PostNL’s Experience Nature series will revolve around the flora and fauna of the Caribbean Netherlands. The 4 releases in 2024 will focus on the nature of Bonaire. PostNL has been releasing these stamp sheets since 2017. Now the graphic designer Frank Janse from Gouda has added a fresh twist to the design.

In the adapted design, the striking colours of Caribbean nature take the lead. Janse: “With this release, you can see the colour of the flora on Bonaire, the green of the leaves, lots of pink in the flowers and some yellow species along the bottom, all combined with the blue of the sky and sea. This release is an outlier in the series. The birds and butterflies on Bonaire, for example, are always colourful, but the flora is much less so in the dry season. I took that into account in my choice of photos. I could have solved it by only depicting flowers, but then you don’t do justice to the diversity of the flora on the island. DIN 2014 was chosen as the new font to put even more emphasis on the colours. This creates a nice contrast between the colours of the plants and flowers on the one hand and the sober and sleek typography on the other. “The frivolous splatters on the edge of the sheet have disappeared,” says Janse. “And I’ve added graphic elements to the stamps for the first time. I associate islands like Bonaire with old topographical maps. The graphic elements on the stamps are taken from the symbols used by cartographers to clarify what an area looks like. It made sense for me to use symbols for vegetation on this stamp sheet, the little sprigs at the top left and bottom right, for example. You can also see wavy lines for the sea around Bonaire and long broken stripes for the types of soil in which the plants and trees grow.”

The basic design for the Experience Nature series has been retained, including the circular shapes in the background. “The circles have been applied in a different way,” says Janse. “They don’t protrude as far onto the borders of the sheet, and I let them run along the perforations like a scalloped edge. This represents a certain roughness that I also associate with the topographical symbols on old maps and sea charts where the ink has started to fade and run. The rugged flora caused by the unforgiving climate on Bonaire fits in well with this: drought, high temperatures and a constant easterly wind. The flora has adapted to this with properties designed to retain as much water as possible. These include small and sturdy leaves, low trees and cacti whose leaves have developed into spines that lose less moisture through evaporation.”

The photographs on the front of the sheet reappear on the back, albeit in monochrome colours against an empty background. Janse: “I used that space to repeat the names of the species depicted, as well as indicating the photographers and the image banks. The colours on the back correspond to the colours of the transparent images on the front. That’s another innovation in this year’s design. The transparent images used to be white, but now colours have also been used because they are so strongly intertwined with Caribbean nature. As a result, the transparent images are more interconnected than ever. For example, the pink goat’s foot flower corresponds to the pink holywood flower on the right side of the sheet edge and the pink cacti on the bottom right. The images on the back are freestanding and extend much further over the perforations. Making them freestanding was quite a job, especially the cacti. All the spines had to be detached from the background one by one. The effect of the stamp sheet is also striking because you get new insight into the structure of a plant, shrub or tree when it is depicted without a background.”

The stamp sheet opens with 2 flowering plant species characteristic of the island: the goat’s foot that grows on sand and the dividivi with its signature windblown shape. “Both are great examples of survivors,” says Janse. “The goat’s foot flower resembles that of the bindweed in the Netherlands, but that’s where the comparison ends. Goat’s foot grows on the beach and is therefore resistant to the salty soil. The stems can grow up to 30 metres long. The photo is a macro shot with an extremely low point of view so you can clearly see how it grows. The photo of the dividivi, on the other hand, was taken from a greater distance. That’s the only way you can fit a standing tree in its entirety onto a horizontal postage stamp. Of course, it also helps that the crown grows sideways. In the photo, you can see how the tree resists the wind with its sturdy roots. The row below features a melon cactus on volcanic rock to the left and a sprig of holywood including flower and leaves to the right. Holywood is heavy, hard and full of resin, making it ideal for shipbuilding. In Zeeland there is the expression ‘dwars als pokhout’ – people are described as being as stubborn as holywood, though I’m not totally sure why.”

The middle row of stamps depicts mangroves on the left and lady of the night on the right. Janse: “Mangroves are very characteristic of the vegetation close to the coast. This tree can therefore withstand brackish and salt water. The mangrove protects the coast and serves as a breeding ground for all kinds of fish and other aquatic animals. I chose this photo because you can see the sky and the sea as well as sandy beaches and mangroves. The transparent image of the goat’s foot runs right across it for good reason, because it grows on the beach. The stamp on the right depicts the lady of the night, an orchid. The name is elegant, and orchids appear to be fragile flowers. But the lady of the night also grows near cliffs, rocks and mangroves, so near salt water. And also on trees, hence the branch in the background.”

You will come across dagger cacti all over Bonaire. The examples on the stamp are so tall that they extend a little onto the stamp above them. “They grow very tall and very old,” says Janse. “I’ve also seen pictures of dagger cacti intertwined to serve as a hedge. Here they tower up nicely, with other cacti in the background. Opposite this photo is another macro shot of sea purslane. It is not to be confused with the plant known as ‘zeepostelein’ in the Netherlands which is similar in appearance and sometimes even goes by the same name. The sea purslane on the stamp grows in or near brackish and salt water, which is where it gets its distinctive taste. With the plants in the bottom row of the stamps, I break the pattern of the pink flowers above. A design should never be too predictable. On the left you can see the pompom flower of the Dutch casha, whose leaves closely resemble those of the prosopis juliflora next to it. This last photo is the only one on the stamp sheet with a camera angle from below. I chose it at the end because I wanted to literally bring air into the composition. As a result, you can almost see and feel how these flowers are moved back and forth by the wind.”

Frank Janse (Vlissingen, 1967) completed his studies as a graphic designer at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam in 2001. Janse is a specialist in corporate identities, branding, infographics and communication campaigns. Until 2019, he worked for various advertising and design agencies, including Room for ID’s, and well as himself as Frank Grafisch Ontwerp in Gouda. In 2019, together with Leene Communicatie, he founded the new company Leene Visuele Communicatie to design communication tools with a focus on content and information design. Leene Visuele Communicatie works for clients including the housing corporation Rochdale, PostNL, Randstad Group Netherlands, the Dutch government, Vattenfall and the organisation for health research and care innovation ZonMw. Since the end of 2022, Frank has been the design director and co-owner of VormVijf in The Hague. VormVijf works for governments, companies and organisations with the (mostly organised) citizen as its main and largest target group. The agency connects strategy, design and content with the ambition to innovate, surprise and create impact. For PostNL, Frank Janse has previously designed various luxury storage systems and personalised stamps, including the 2017 themed collection about bird species in the Netherlands. He also designed the Experience Nature series in the years 2018-2023. In 2023, he designed the personalised stamps: Holland America Line 150 Years, Girl with a Pearl Earring and the Juliana 1948 Inauguration with 24-carat gold.

The stamps are available from all PostNL points of sale, the post offices in Bruna stores and from www.postnl.nl/bijzondere-postzegels while stocks last. The stamps can also be ordered by phone from the customer service of Collect Club on 088 868 99 00. The validity period is indefinite.

The Experience Nature – The Flora of Bonaire stamps each bear a value of 1, intended for mail weighing up to 20 grams with a destination within the Netherlands. The price per sheet of 10 stamps is €11.40.

Stamp size40 x 30 mm

Sheet size 122 x 170 mm

Paper normal with phosphor print

Gumming self-adhesive

Printing technique offset

Printing colours cyan, magenta, yellow and black

Print run 285,000 sheets

Appearance sheet of 10 stamps in 10 different designs

Design Frank Janse, Gouda

Photography Alamy (André Gilden, Zoonar Gmbh, Tom Stack)

Dreamstime (Chiyacat, Maria 1986 NYC), Private, Shutterstock (Balaz)

Wikimedia Commons (Derek R. Artz, Cuatrok77, David J. Stang)

Printing company Royal Joh. Enschedé B.V., Haarlem

Item number 440861

Goat’s foot (Ipomoea pes-caprae) is a species of flowering plant in the bindweed family. The plant has sturdy stems that creep across the sand and can grow up to 30 metres long. The stems have fleshy leaves in a shape reminiscent of a goat’s hoof print. The flowers are pink to violet in colour and grow in the leaf axils, often alone and very occasionally in small groups. The flowers open in the morning and finish blooming by the afternoon. The fruits are 1 to 2 centimetres in size, with 2 chambers that split open with 4 valves to reveal 4 large black seeds which are usually hairy. Goat’s foot is fairly common on almost all tropical coasts. The plant can root at any stem node, binding the sand and contributing to the stability of beaches. Papiamentu name: Batata di Lama.

Source: Wikipedia, Dutch Caribbean Species Register

The dividivi (Caesalpinia coriaria) is a tree in the legume family (Fabaceae) that is native to Mexico, Central America, northern South America and the Caribbean. This tree is common on Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. Well-known specimens are those shaped by the trade winds, growing in one direction as a result. Dividivis can withstand drought thanks to their sturdy roots and small leaves. A dividivi tree flowers 2 to 3 times a year. The bipinnate compound leaves measure up to 15 centimetres long and the pale yellow flowers bloom in clusters. The dividivi fruits are thick, dark brown curved pods that curl in different directions. Papiamentu names: Watapana (tree) and Dividivi (fruit).

Source: Wikipedia, Dutch Caribbean Species Register

Melon cactus (Melocactus macracanthos) is the umbrella name for a genus of slow-growing cacti in the cactus family. About 30 to 40 species are native to the Caribbean. They are found from western Mexico to northern South America. Some species have managed to reach the south of Peru. Papiamentu names: Bushi, Milon di Seru, Kabes di Indjan.

Source: Wikipedia, Dutch Caribbean Species Register

Holywood (Guaiacum sanctum) is one of the heaviest woods in the world and is best known for its content of up to 25 per cent greasy, resinous substances. In the past, holywood was thus widely used for the pulleys of sailing ships. The resin made these pulleys self-lubricating. Nowadays, holywood is still used for propeller shaft bearings and sliding blocks, for example in wind turbines, for the same reason. Holywood comes from trees in the Guaiacum genus. These trees are native to tropical and subtropical regions from Mexico to Central America, Florida, the Caribbean and northern South America. Guaiacum sanctum grows slowly, reaching a height of 7 metres and a diameter of 50 centimetres. The compound leaves are dark green, grow to 2.5 to 3 centimetres long and fold together in the heat of the day. The purplish-blue flowers have 5 petals each and produce yellow pods with black seeds. Papiamentu names: Wayaká Shimaron, Burobari, Bera.

Source: Wikipedia, Dutch Caribbean Species Register

The red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) is one of the three main mangrove species, in addition to the white and the black mangrove. The red mangrove usually grows a bit closer to the water’s edge compared to the white and black ones, although they often occur together. The red one has somewhat larger leaves and can be recognised by the long prop roots that grow from the trunk in all directions to strengthen the plant’s grip on the wet mud. The fruits are seedlings that fall into the water and can then float around for up to a year before taking root somewhere. Unlike the white and black species, the red mangrove does not have salt glands on its leaves to excrete excess salt. Instead, the salt is held back where the root meets the ground. Papiamentu names: Mangeltam, Rotmangel.

Source: Wikipedia, Dutch Caribbean Species Register

The lady of the night (Brassavola nodosa) is a small but hardy orchid species native to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. This orchid was given the name lady of the night because its flowers release a pleasant scent with notes of citrus and gardenia after darkness falls. The scent is given off to attract night moths. Papiamentu names: Orkidia di mondi, Orkidia blanku.

Source: Wikipedia, Dutch Caribbean Species Register

The dagger cactus (Stenocereus griseus) is a tree-like cactus that can grow up to 9 metres tall. This cactus is often covered with a whitish, sea-green or bluish waxy layer to prevent evaporation. The flowers open at night. The corolla tube is practically scaleless and the fruit smooth. Depending on the variety, the colour of the fruits varies from white and yellow to red and purple. The dagger cactus is found in certain parts of Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia and on the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. On these islands, the cactus bears flowers and fruits during the dry season. The dagger cactus is an important food source for bats, birds and other animals, but humans also eat the fruits. Papiamentu names: Yatu, Yato.

Source: Wikipedia, Dutch Caribbean Species Register

Sea purslane (Sesuvium portulacastrum) is a plant that is only remotely related to the plant known by the same name in the Netherlands and Belgium. Sea purslane is a pioneer plant that can be found on coasts, in dunes and in salt and brackish water marshes. This succulent plant bears small flowers which are usually purple and sometimes pink or almost white. The small thick leaves are 0.5 to 5 centimetres long and are light green, sometimes turning reddish as they age. The plant is found across the world on the tropical and subtropical coasts between the latitudes of 35° North and 42° South. The plant is edible, both raw and cooked, but very salty. Papiamentu names: Bembe di Baka, Bembe di Ref.

Source: Wikipedia, Dutch Caribbean Species Register

Dutch casha (Acacia tortuosa, also known as Vachellia tortuosa) is a woody, leguminous bushy tree that can grow 1 to 2 metres in height. This twisted acacia is found in the Caribbean, as well as Florida, southern Texas, north-eastern and central Mexico, and northern South America. The deciduous tree has light brown bark with dark stripes. The crown is irregular and flat at the top. The upward-growing branches bear compound leaves. The yellow-orange, strongly scented flowers are found in clusters in the leaf axils. The seed pods are dark brown, woody, and covered with soft down. Papiamentu names: Wabi, Hodaba.

Source: inaturalist.org, treeworldwholesale.com, Dutch Caribbean Species Register

Prosopis juliflora is a shrub in the legume family (Fabaceae) native to Mexico, South America and the Caribbean. The shrub is shady and resistant to drought and trade winds. The plant is used in various products, including honey from the flowers, sugar syrup from the pods and tables and souvenirs from the raw trunk. The flowers follow soon after the leaves measuring 5 to 10 centimetres long appear. The roots reach great depths in search of water. The record stands at 53 metres underground. Papiamentu names: Palu di Kuida, Kwida, Kuí, Kuhí.

Source: Wikipedia, Dutch Caribbean Species Register

Release: Experience Nature – The Flora of Bonaire

Release date: 12 August 2024

Appearance: Sheet of 10 stamps in 10 different designs, each with a value of 1 for mail weighing up to 20 grams sent within the Netherlands.

Item number: 440861

Design: Frank Janse, Gouda

Photography: Alamy (André Gilden, Zoonar Gmbh, Tom Stack), Dreamstime (Chiyacat, Maria 1986 NYC), Private, Shutterstock (Balaz) and Wikimedia Commons (Derek R. Artz, Cuatrok77, David J. Stang)