trees of Horten, Vestfold, Norway

down......

The live fences

The majestic Aesculus

Oh..what an Oak

Beautiful and majestic........

a Viscum in Vestfold, Norway

Viscum sp (?) in a maple in Horten sentrum

Trailing thru Horten my eyes got hooked on this tree, opposite the Bibliotek.

The 'parasite' in a more closer range

I got it confirmed by my 'ithi-kanni' specialist friend, who confirms that it is a Viscum sp.

A more closer shot

In Uppsala with Prof. Liden in Linn Hammarby

Miles away I am thankful to my late Prof. LCB for engineering this trip. He threw open a really wonderful path for me. Alas he is not there today. I can imagine how enthusiastically you would had welcomed my pilgrimage to the Linnaen sites. Miss you, Sir.

In the Linn Hammarby, his summer house-cum-lecture halls

Another professor, who with equal enthusiasm and spirit welcomed my interest and desire to vist the Uppsala heritage sites was Prof. Magnus Liden of Uppsala University. Since the days of my Linnaeus ecourse, I had nourised a secret dream to visit this place. But never in my wildest dreams did I expect that I would receive one of the most memorable welcomes in my professional life.

Prof. Liden explaining the theme plant of the first paper of Linn

Prof. Liden is a natural plant taxonomist. Devoid of any trappings, he was very easy going & knowledgeable. More importantly he was ready to explain and took pains to show me all that is worth seeing for me around in his own car. He took me everywhere, the museums, the gardens, the Hammarby. Thank you so much, Prof. Liden. Yes, I will come again to see the cathedral we missed.


Not at all forgetting Mr. Abdulla, the young Turkish botanist who was with us. I am sure he is soon going to make a name for himself in Ankara.  Good luck, young man. One day I will visit your garden.

Hi Abdulla...Thank U

How can I miss to thank my dear sister-in-law and her sister (Yup, my wife) for leading from the front and making this trip a memorable one for me? Thank you so much.


Ya, behind every successful man there is a woman (so said an idiot)

the red maple of Stockholm

The motif and the orginal..dont miss the fruits

Walking down Stockholm I bumped into a maple tree. Be it Stockholm, Oslo or Horten, there are lot of trees in these scandinavian cities. Enthusiastically eyeing the morphology, I was led into another strange discovery. A flag flurting atop it. What a strange coincidence.........The motif and its original underneath it........By the by, dont miss the winged fruits-botanically 'samaras' (they here also call these fruits a 'key' 'spinning jenny'etc)- in the picture of the tree posted above.

I browsed and found out that there are about 125 species of maple trees in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. Maple leaves are lobed, small and oppositely placed. They change colour during the autmn or fall season. The trees here have started to change their leaf colour.


The motif in Canadian flag is the leaf of Red Maple, Acer rubrum. Though having very low timber value, red maple is used for the production of maple syrup. It is edible and of use in confectionary. The primary use is in landscaping.

Carl Linnaeus and me

Wow....at Uppsala, Sweden today visiting the Linnaeus Hammarby, Garden and Musuem....I dont know how to thank Prof. Magnus Liden and Mr. Abdulla. Thank you so much.

What a pilgrimage was this visit of mine?......Memorable. Truly enchanting and will live as long as my memory will stay with me. Visiting the very place where this astonishing naturalist worked, lived, planted and finally breathed his last. His apple tree is still there!

More pics and write ups when I get back to Horten from here..Stockholm...

Batteri, Oaks of Horten

finally I saw an acorn!

Walking through Horten in the Monday forenoon sun was exciting. The sun was burning bright today, but not enough to beat the chill. I cannot walk like this back in Kerala-would be 'fried' in 15 minutes. 

As usual, my eyes followed the trees and the other plants that are quite in numbers all over here. Saw a number of huge oaks-species I have to 'research' and find out. My companion told me the other tree with its white bark is a birch. I might have also seen maples (????) from the shape of the leaf it seems like that!

Also went to the Batteri-never knew that the Third Reich was here in Norway. No, I didnt have any idea about 'Operation Weserübung' until my visit today.

amidst the Green Umbrellas of Batteri, Horten

upon a tree stump across the Batteri

The Batteri is on the side of a seashore, just opposite the old light house. It is surrounded by a thickly wooded area. I have abolutely no idea about the species there, but one quick look tells me the presence of Oak. It is a really good park-full of 'Green Umbrellas'. Good that the Hortens are preserving such a good greenery in their midst.

horten green umbrellas

Norwegian cats!

grass and flowers

flowers

me at Horten

Horten, Vestfold, Norway

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.

Chaala Kambolam

ചാലയില്‍ ഞാന്‍ പോയിരുന്നു വളരെ കാലത്തിനു ശേഷം....ചാല കമ്പോളത്തില്‍ വച്ച് നിന്നെ കണ്ടതിനുശേഷം.....

ഉത്രാട നാളില്‍ ചാലയിലൂടെ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

വെറ്റില, അടക്ക :പച്ചപ്പ്‌ ഇല്ലാതെ എന്ത് ചാല, എന്ത് ഓണം?

പൂവിളി പൂവിളി പൊന്നോണമായി..ഈ പൂച്ചെടികള്‍ കേരളത്തില്‍ ഉണ്ടോ ?

തിരുവോണനാളില്‍ തിരക്കൊഴിഞ്ഞു ചാല കമ്പോളം 

എല്ലാം കാണുന്ന കിഴക്കേ കോട്ട...എത്ര ഓണം കാണാനിരിക്കുന്നു ?

Sir Dietrich Brandis

Sir Dietrich Brandis

Well, this German is known as the 'Father of Tropical (Indian as well) Forestry". He and his ilk taught us to plant trees like "cabbages", "carrots" etc. A trained botanist, he was deputed by the Crown (which one,well the English one, buddy) to set up the Indian Forest department in 1864. As a man with a thorough attitude and skill, he did a fine job.

This man loved plants. I was at Dehradoon, India last December. Dehradoon is known as the "mecca" of Indian forestry. I don't know why it is still called like that!!!!! Forest science has gone a long, long way forward, fellas. another Colonial hangover, may be......

I walked through the tree collection by Brandis. Wow....it has to be seen....After all, as a true Dendrologist (tree botanist), Brandis had much passion for trees. He wrote a big fat book called Indian Trees as well.

The walking trail of the great German forester

Really proud to be in the midst of this Green Umbrella by him