July 2013 in Svalbard

[astragalus]

Trond, what a perfect setting for Saxifraga caespitosa caespitosa, really something to emulate if you could only get such a fantastic plant to look like that!  Wondering if there are easier plants to use to try for the same effect.

[ranunculus]

Superb images, Trond ... love the little draba.

[astragalus]

Trond, I especially like the Silene uralensis.  There's a similar silene in the Rocky Mtns. called Silene apetala.  Also has the inflated calyx with the dark lines, surmouonted by a tiny ruff of actual petals.  You have to have good eyesight to even see them.  Then thety nod down and are altogether charming.  Must be a close relative.

[krisderaeymaeker]

Trond, I especially like the Silene uralensis.  There's a similar silene in the Rocky Mtns. called Silene apetala.  Also has the inflated calyx with the dark lines, surmouonted by a tiny ruff of actual petals.  You have to have good eyesight to even see them.  Then thety nod down and are altogether charming.  Must be a close relative.

Agree with Anne , what a great Silene Trond ! Is it only growing in Norway ?

[Lori S.]

Trond, I especially like the Silene uralensis.  There's a similar silene in the Rocky Mtns. called Silene apetala. 

They seem to be considered one and the same these days... love seeing these little guys!!  Here, we see Silene uralensis ssp. attenuata, apparently (formerly Lychnis apetala), according to Flora of Alberta. Silene uralensis is said to be circumpolar, and existing across the North American Arctic, down into BC, Alberta, Montana and down into Utah and Colorado.  I wonder how ssp. arctica differs from the ones here?  (Probably in some detail too subtle for me to detect, I imagine!)
Fabulous photos, Trond!

[Hoy]

Trond, what a perfect setting for Saxifraga caespitosa caespitosa, really something to emulate if you could only get such a fantastic plant to look like that!  Wondering if there are easier plants to use to try for the same effect.

Anne, at this place (Kapp Thordsen) this saxifrage covered almost all the land a step above the beach. It is avery variable species and common on many kind of soils - shouldn't be too tricky.

[Hoy]

Superb images, Trond ... love the little draba.

Thanks Cliff. It is 13 different drabas on the islands!

[Hoy]

Trond, I especially like the Silene uralensis.  There's a similar silene in the Rocky Mtns. called Silene apetala.  Also has the inflated calyx with the dark lines, surmouonted by a tiny ruff of actual petals.  You have to have good eyesight to even see them.  Then thety nod down and are altogether charming.  Must be a close relative.

Anne, it is as Lori says - all these species have been merged into one but different subspecies. The one in Svalbard differ from the one on the mainland of Norway often been more tufted and with longer petals. The populations on Svalbard differed too!

[ashley]

Maggi, I wonder would it be worth separating out Trond and Anne's wonderful posts of wild plants into dedicated threads in the Travel section?
With their agreement of course.

[Hoy]

Good idea Ashley. I wondered if they might make a new 'flowering in the wild' thread..... let's hear from Anne and Trond ........

I don't know what's best - I was thinking of adding a few pictures of the landscape too.
So do what you think is best, Maggi.

[Maggi Young]

I have made this Svalbard thread in  'Flowers and Foliage now'.

[Stephenb]

Great pictures, Trond....

It's the Taraxacum that does it for me...love to be able to grow that...and the Mertensia too...

[Maggi Young]

In the original thread, there  has been favourable  mention of this website:
http://svalbardflora.net/index.php?id=1

I'd like to add this one too:
http://svalbardinsects.net/

[jandals]

Awesome

[astragalus]

Trond, have you grown the Sax. caespitosa?