P. vulgaris in Telemark, Norway

[johns]

I recently visited Rjukan in Telemark, a small town where there is no sun from september to march due to being in the bottom of a deep valley. It's also the site of the WW2 heavy water sabotages.

These pictures are from above Rjukan near the Gaustablikk ski resort. I mainly tried to document the Pinguicula vulgaris growing sites, closeups are not always included.

Part 1: near the ski resort, around 950m altitude.

Looking towards the pile of rocks (or mountain as they're called in Norway) called Gaustatoppen. Many of the CPs pictured were not far outside the frame.

On the side of a road/path.

On the side of the path. The closeup is of a plant hidden in a crack/crevice near the top right of the red rock.

Habitat of D. anglica and a single or very few P. vulgaris. An atypical sight, I think?

On the side of the path.

Area with many small ponds, on which P. vulgaris grew on the edges.

Only a few plants were in flower.

D. rotundifolia in or near the frame of the previous picture.

[johns]

Part 2: on a hike from 950m to (if I recall correctly) 1175m

Stream with Pings around the edges.

Another stream (or upstream), the pings are hiding under the branch.

Further up, in a U-valley at or above the tree line. The pings are in the lower right of the picture.

Looking down at the valley. Much water, pings here and there. I even found one or two growing on the path (but that says more about the path).

Didn't spot any pings here, but it's a beautiful spot anyway.

[Guest Andreas Eils]

Hi John,

the landscape is breath taking as it uses to be in Norway! Nice cp specimens as well! Thanks for showing!

Andreas

[rsivertsen]

When I was near Norfjord, a few years ago, I also found lots of Pings, mostly P. vulgaris, but some with a lot of red in them (possibly P. alpina), and several sites that were loaded with D. anglica and the ubiquitous D. rotundifolia, including the hybrids between them and D. anglica (D. obovata) scattered along the wet seepages. The scenery is indeed breathtaking! I'm looking forward to my next trip, hopefully visiting Trondheim, and the University there! In these areas, the plants get 24 hrs sunlight during their growth cycle, and are buried in total darkness during the winter months. - Rich

Edited July 24, 2010 by rsivertsen

[Carlos Rohrbacher]

Hi johns,

good pictures and habitat, I liked this red D. rotudifolia and pinguicula.

Thanks for sharing.

[johns]

Thanks for the replies. :)

I'm looking forward to my next trip, hopefully visiting Trondheim, and the University there! In these areas, the plants get 24 hrs sunlight during their growth cycle, and are buried in total darkness during the winter months. - Rich

Surely you need to go further north than Trondheim? The sun stays up longer there than here in Oslo, but I think it's not far enough north. By the way, you probably know already, but P. alpina and P. villosa can be found south of Trondheim, in Oppdal.

[rsivertsen]

I found 24 hr sunlight on the mountains in Trondheim and Reid and have a photo of me reading a newspaper at exactly midnight with sunlight on the paper in June and July. Even parts of Bergen get pretty long daylengths where it never really gets dark during the night during mid-summer. - Rich

[Davion]

Gees, ... Must-be R-Very Confusing / Distracting Country to-Live-in!!! One Wouldn't-'Know' ... Whether to Look-UP at The Amazing-Scenery or Down-at The-Ground at The-Beautiful-Plants!!! >(*U^)< You Wouldn't Want to Round-R-Corner There and Come-Across R-Party of Attractive Scandanavian Women Perchance, Per-se!!! >(*~*)< / >(*U^)<