Russian North

[Paddy Tobin]

Natalia, it is very interesting to see your pictures! Both the landscape and the flora! I hadn't actually considered Kola peninsula as a place to visit before you showed how beautiful it is!

Natalia,

Another collection of wonderful photographs, beautiful scenery and magical flowers and the Harrimanella is truly magical; I love the photograph of it dripping over the rock.

Love the first photograph - blueberries, I could eat that one.

Paddy

Paddy, don't you call those berries bilberry? (Vaccinium uliginosum)?

Trond, you are perfectly correct and, actually, the area of town where I live is called "Bilberry". However, I always called them "fraochán" which is the Irish term - an Irish word which continued in use in areas where the Irish language was no longer spoken even.

Paddy

[Hoy]

Interesting, Paddy. What does "fraochán" mean? And do you have a similar words for blueberry and cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea)?

[Paddy Tobin]

"Fraochán" is simply the Irish word for bilberry. I recall now that we also used call them "hurts" though I don't know the origins of this word.

Blueberry don't grow here and I don't think cowberry do either and,  certainly, I don't have any Irish words for them.

Just checked a site which lists Irish plants and neither blueberry nor cowberry are listed.

Paddy

[Paddy Tobin]

This entry in Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry, gives "ground hurts" as a name for bilberry, V. uliginosum.


Paddy

[Lesley Cox]

Does Vaccinium hirsutum have edible fruits?

[Natalia]

Colleagues, on photo Vaccínium uliginósum - bushes small, hardly above lichen level...
Vaccínium myrtíllus - other plant - unfortunately, I am not strong in English language... And traditional titles I can confuse. I am sorry:)

[Panu]

Natalia, that Picea x fennica (ssp. abies x ssp. obovata) has some anomaly. In Northern Finland ssp. obovata is dominant, but the intermediates are quite easily found too.

[Hoy]

"Fraochán" is simply the Irish word for bilberry. I recall now that we also used call them "hurts" though I don't know the origins of this word.

Blueberry don't grow here and I don't think cowberry do either and,  certainly, I don't have any Irish words for them.

Just checked a site which lists Irish plants and neither blueberry nor cowberry are listed.

Paddy

Does that mean that those berries don't grow in Ireland? Strange . . .

Does Vaccinium hirsutum have edible fruits?

Lesley, it is an American plant but as far as I know the berries are edible. So far I know all Vacciniums have edible berries.

Colleagues, on photo Vaccínium uliginósum - bushes small, hardly above lichen level...
Vaccínium myrtíllus - other plant - unfortunately, I am not strong in English language... And traditional titles I can confuse. I am sorry:)

Natalia, don't worry about that! You are much better in English than I am in Russian
What are the Russian names of those berries?

[Natalia]

Panu, I understand - it's called in Russian - "witches broom" - as it is called in English, I do not know.
In the place Hibiny dominates Picea x fennica.

Hoy, in Russian, these plants are called Vaccínium myrtíllus - chernika, and Vaccínium uliginósum - golubika. In the first type is almost black berries, and the second with a matte blue plaque - the name comes from the color of berries.

[Paddy Tobin]

Hoy, we have only bilberry/fraochán/hurts. Paddy

[Hoy]

Hoy, we have only bilberry/fraochán/hurts. Paddy

Unbelievable

[Natalia]

I have shown part Hibiny, but not only it is Russian North... On 100 kilometers to the south - the White sea - and it too the Russian North:)

Kandalaksha bay
Kandalaksha bay_3
Relic pine forest
Evening on Kandalaksha bay
Evening on Kandalaksha bay_2
Aster sp
Aster sp in an inflow zone
Aster in an inflow zone
Sea outflow

[Natalia]

and more...

Varzuga
Amethystine coas
Campanula sp at the strong wind
Chamaepericlymenum suecicum in Amethystine coast
Mertensia maritim
Mertensia maritim_2
Mertensia maritim_4
Lathyrus maritimus_ Lathyrus japonicus ssp maritimu
Honckenya peploides
Honckenya peploides_2

[Natalia]

and more...

The most northern desert
The most northern desert_0
The most northern desert_2
Barkhan with filling from Empetrum nigrum
Vaccinium uliginosum in desert
Armeria maritima ssp_ arctica
Caps Juniperus
River Salnitsa mouth

[Hoy]

In Kirovsk also there is a north botanical garden - Arctic-alpine botanical garden-institute. They have magnificent collection of plants - from the Himalaya plants to the North-American plants.

Hoy, if your daughter will visit Hibiny, becoming acquainted with minerals is possible. Both in mountains and in a museum - there remarkable museum in city Kirovsk and Appatity.

Thank you, Natalia! I'll discuss it with her next time she is home I would be interested in visiting the botanical garden too!

Hoy, in Russian, these plants are called Vaccínium myrtíllus - chernika, and Vaccínium uliginósum - golubika. In the first type is almost black berries, and the second with a matte blue plaque - the name comes from the color of berries.

Do you pick them and make jam or juice?

I have seen some pictures from the White Sea area before, but never like yours, Natalia! The landscape is very different from what I thought it was too! Nice plants and some special habitats.

The Aster, isn't it Aster tripolium? Or do you have another species at the coast there?