19
Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris)
Alpine Fleabane (Erigeron alpinus and E.
borealis)
Shining Fleabane (Erigeron politus)
Alpine Catsfoot (Antennaria alpina)
Highland Cudweed (Gnapphalium norvegicum)
Scottish Asphodel (Tofieldia pusilla)
Frog Orchid (Coeloglossum viride)
White Frog Orchid (Pseudorchis albida)
To supplement the walkabouts the party had a
couple of trips further afield by minibus.
One was to a glacier of Snohetta reached by a
long bumpy track through a military training
area. I did not find it so visually attractive
as others I have visited in Norway and the
glacial lake cut off close access to the
snout. The way to it is across a vast
boulder—strewn desert and pockets of lying
snow, blinding in the Sunshine. The only
wildflowers to be seen were Glacier Buttercup
(Ranunculus glacialis) which has white petals
which turn pink, then purple.
The other outing was a round trip of about 200
km in the Rondane area taking in the attractive
Grimsdal valley. We were accompanied by the
warden of Dovrefjell National Park who told us
about the area's geological structure. We
visited a Scots Pine forest covered with lichen
and took a look at a kettle hole. Naturally
there were stops to inspect wayside plants
and at one of them there was a surprise:
Tamarisk! Or at least, something very much
like it, but only the one shrub. In fact it
was Myrlearia germanica which does grow in
Scandinavia and eastern Europe.