Finse July 2016. Some plants from the central mountain area in Norway

[Hoy]

Finse is the highest point (1222 m asl) at the railway from Oslo to Bergen. It is a railway station there, two hotels and a scientific research centre. No proper road though, only a small dirt road. It is very popular to rent a bicycle at Haugastøl and bike to Finse and further to Flåm. It is possible to bring the bike with the train also.




Finsevatn:

[Hoy]

Sombody has once thrown some seeds of a poppy along the line and they still appear every year.






Silene dioica is natural though but comes in different colours and shapes along the line as well as high up in the mountains.

[Hoy]

Viola tricolor likes the crushed stone along the track.






Silene vulgaris




Arabis alpina along the track but also very high up where the snow lingers still.




Cerastium cerastoides



(To be continued)

[Maggi Young]

  Loving this, Trond!

[Alan_b]

Some lovely wild flowers there, but also a good deal of snow.  When were the photographs taken?

[Hoy]

Loving this, Trond!

Hope you will like the rest of it also, Maggi

Some lovely wild flowers there, but also a good deal of snow.  When were the photographs taken?

Alan,

Sorry I did forget to write the date. Pictures was taken this week, starting Sunday July 24. In this area the snow will last all summer.

South of Finse lake is Hardangerjøkelen, a big glacier. It is to the left in this picture. The other patches of snow are "fenner" accumulations of snow that may melt down during summer, often they don't.

[Hoy]

The following pictures are from about 1400 to 1500 m altitude.

This Saxifraga, S. cernua, grows on wet places. Usually it has just one flower in the top but a lot of bulbils. It is common in the mountains.






Silene suecica is also common. It can be quite showy. It is also found at the most inhospitable places like wind and rainswept summits.






In wet places (no lack of wet places up here- it rains a lot and the snow melts everywhere!) you can find several small Epilobiums. The smallest is E. anagallidifolium.

[Hoy]

Close-up of Epilobium anagallidifolium.




Not much grows where the snow takes a long time to melt. You can find mosses and a few other plants.




The lemmings like to live under the snow here during winter but disappear when the snow melts. Here are lemming droppings. They can cover much of such snowmelt patches.




Ranunculus pygmaeus can grow at such snowmelt patches, especially if they stay moist.




Saxifraga cespitosa prefers spots that melt earlier.

[Hoy]

A melting "fonn" (snowdrift) makes a lot of water. The red colour is due to an algae growing in the cold water.




Philonotis (fontana?) is a very common moss on the permanent wet areas, especially where water come up from the underground.






Saxifraga rivularis likes it here!






(More is coming)

[Hoy]

A lot of insects are out when the sun shines. Here is a Zygaena exulans visiting a Silene acaulis.




Silene acaulis is popular among the insects. This is a Boloria napaea(?) visiting it.




Harebell, Campanula rotundifolia, is common at the coast as well as high up in the mountains.




Erigeron uniflorus.

[Hoy]

Saxifraga tenuis




Diphrasiastrum alpinum




Some lichens:

Cladonia bellidiflora



Possibly a Flavocetraria sp




Unknown

[johnralphcarpenter]

Finse is the highest point (1222 m asl) at the railway from Oslo to Bergen. It is a railway station there, two hotels and a scientific research centre. No proper road though, only a small dirt road. It is very popular to rent a bicycle at Haugastøl and bike to Finse and further to Flåm. It is possible to bring the

That would be the train line featured in that wonderful movie "O`Horten"?

[David Nicholson]

Irish movie?

[johnralphcarpenter]

Does sound like it, but no, Norwegian. Main character is called Odd Horten.

[Robert]

Hi Trond,

The photographs are completely fascinating! Many of the species are familiar to me. Some are very new to me. At the high elevations, such as where you are now, what species make up the bulk of the greenery? At high altitudes in the Sierra Nevada Poaceae and Cyperaceae can be very dominant. Even on the highest peaks one can find Carex species or Elymus elymoides. Of coarse, there are choice Eriogonum species, and others too. It seems Mosses and/or Lichens are very common where you are now?

Anyway, very cool.        I am enjoying the sights immensely. By the way, the first photograph of the train tracks and station seems very familiar. You have been to the area before?