this blog post is from Norway. I landed here on 10th with Shiny in tow. My European holiday is not without scholastic objectives. How can, afterall a self-styled naturalist stay away from ecology and biodiversity? He ha ha. As the Turkish airplane slowly descended down to OSL, I was surprised by the greenery around. The typical cone shaped crowns of the pines (i have to find out the species..rather I have to find out a passionate Norge botanist or dendrolgist who can help me to identify the vegetation here...) emerged more clearly.
My surprise is because I thought since Norway is on the higher latitudes, the ecology is not conducive for so much greenery. I should re-orient my Global Forestry lectures. Touching down and taking a 2 hour rail drive to Horten further proved my perceptions wrong. What a fool am I? There is so much here for a plantist (yes, my term for a plant enthusiast). From the speeding train I think I could make out a few Asteraceae members. Unfortunately, I know very less.
Though it was drizlling, I strolled a bit through Horten today evening. Very close to the sea side, the neighbourhood has very beautiful gardens. All the houses (or apartments) have lovely flowers. And the owners do keep them clean and tidy as well. I did not get time for a very detailed examination, though the big sized roses did not miss my eyes. Most of the other flowers, I could not recognise, eventhough I think I came across a lot of Gamopetalae members. I have no local Floras to identify them for myself.
In the gardens, I saw apple trees and apples in them. Back home in Kerala, India we have to buy apples (grown in far off Shimla), India to eat! I also saw some trees (and some on the fences which are of sapling size) on the roadsides-from the leaf morphology I have a feeling that it belongs to Malus species.
I am missing my digital camera. More importanlty, for the next 29 days, I am going to miss the plants if I dont stumble upon a local naturalist.
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