Botany News
BOTANY NEWS
Botanical Information
Welcome to this fourteenth edition of Botany News!
TOPICS:
1.
A note from the editor
2.
Plants grown in northern gardens: Rowan
3.
A special announcement to Icelandic readers
4.
Mountain beauties
5.
The flower box
Visit our website:
Eco-Logy.com
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A note from the editor
Joyful Autumn! Welcome again to
Botany News
and a special welcome to new subscribers. Autumn is here again, while warmer
than usual and bringing still and clear autumn weather to Reykjavik. Special
thanks to those of you who participated in the
Survey. New
surveys are underway to check interest in our
Botanical Day
Tours. Thanks to persons showing interest in topics ranging from ethnobotany,
natural products, environmental protection, etc. Enjoy reading Botany News!
Plants grown in northern gardens: Rowan
Many species of rowans are native to the Northern Hemisphere. One species
called Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) is the native Rowan in Iceland.
Rowan is often found in
Icelandic birch
forests, sometimes growing tall above the birch shrubs. The bright red
berries and yellowish and pale-green autumn coloured and feather-shaped leaves
are a joy to people visiting Reykjavik’s
botanical and residential gardens. Rowan is among the most popular
cultivated species of trees in gardens in Reykjavik, as well as subarctic
Akureyri and smaller towns across the country. Among other Rowan species that
can be cultivated in Iceland and elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere are Showy
Mountain-Ash (Sorbus decora), Finnish Whitebeam (Sorbus hybrida)
and Swedish Whitebeam (Sorbus intermedia).
Mountain beauties
There are many types of mountains in Iceland and the best known ones are
probably glaciers and
volcanoes.
Walking upwards in the hills and mountains you find the vegetation becomes more
similar to the vegetation growing in North Iceland. These are often hardy
plants in many cases growing in tufts or small or large rosettes. Among the
"mountain beauties" are
Glacier Crowfoot
(Beckwithia glacialis) restricted to high elevation and common in
northern and eastern Iceland, often growing amazingly on rough soils and in rock
crevices. This plant grows high in the West fjord and East fjord mountains and
mountain ridges. This plant has bell-shaped dangling white to reddish flowers
and shiny green leaves and is a joy to climbers and hikers in the mountains. The
grass species Alpine Bluegrass (Poa alpina) is found all over Iceland but
is one of the survivors in the high mountains. It produces seeds that begin
germination attached to the mother plant in a form of asexual reproduction.
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A special announcement to Icelandic readers
– Tilkynning til lesenda Gróðurfrétta!
Sendið okkur bréf og greinar um gróður og garðrækt til birtingar í næsta hefti
Gróðurfrétta (Botany News), þið getið líka skoðað fyrri hefti á netinu. Eigið
þið góðar myndir og minningar fá sumrinu? Mögulegt er að hafa tengla á ykkar
vefsíður í fréttabréfinu.
Tenglasíðan hjá
Eco-Logy.com býður upp á tenglaskipti við aðila með svipuð áhugamál. Miðlið af
ykkar eigin fróðleik til annars áhugafólks um málefni eins og plöntur, gróður,
ræktun, náttúru landsins og útivist. Sendið okkur tilkynningar og greinar um
fjölbreytt málefni eins og gróðurvernd, náttúruskoðun, trjárækt, garðyrkju,
blómaljósmyndun og umhverfislist. Fyrir þá sem hafa áhuga á hollum
náttúruafurðum má kíkja á
sölusíðu Þundar!
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The flower box
Botany News welcomes letters and links from persons working on all areas of
botany and ecology. Botany News welcomes input from persons working for the
environment, biodiversity and conservation around the world. Please, feel free
to suggest new links to interesting
botanical web pages for the next Flower Box section. There are some who
choose to visit Iceland in the autumn enjoying the colours of birch trees,
willows and rowans! Follow our web updates, including updates on Botanical
Daytours in Iceland. You can send in your own Botany News item. Short
essays on botany, biology and conservation are especially popular. Or send us a
review on recent developments in your area of interest and upcoming botanical
events. The articles/announcements need be no longer than 300-500 words.
Reader comment can be shorter. Articles that do not fit the profile or purpose
of Botany News are not published. Your article is still yours and you keep the
full copyright. Send us your stories from the summer or contact us for
exchanging links.
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Best wishes,
Soffia Arnthorsdottir
BOTANY NEWS is published by Thund, Reykjavik, Iceland
Contact us
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September 16, 2010 -- Botany News, Issue #014
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