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Pinguicula in the Swiss alps


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After spending almost a week in Switzerland, I can safely say that its natural beauty is surpassed only by that of Norway. :thumbsup:

I managed to look for pings in three places: Mt. Pilatus and above Grindelwald and above Zermatt.

Pilatus

Pilatus is considered the northernmost part of the alps, and is only a short way from the city of Luzern.

The path leading up to a viewing platform just above the ending station of both the aerial cableway and cogwheel railway. Below you can see Luzern.

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P. alpina growing right next to the path. Pingspotting in Switzerland is too easy.

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View from the top.

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Grindelwald

Grindelwald is a popular tourist village in the Bernese Alps. I took the aerial gondola up to First (2168m), and hiked down to Bort (1570m).

P. alpina next to the path at ~2100m.

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Bachalpsee.

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More P. alpina habitats along the path (~2000-2100m).

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Below the treeline above Bort, ~1600m. Both P. vulgaris and P. alpina grew on the stream margins. (Actually, looking at the pictures now I can't be 100% sure, not having taken more pictures of what I thought was alpina)

It was fun to see this location - far away from Telemark, Norway but (obviously) exactly the same kind of stream-edge habitat I found there.

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P. vulgaris.

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I think this is P. alpina.

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Zermatt

Zermatt is another popular tourist village, where one can take the Gornergratbahn up to 3000m. The Matterhorn was sadly hidden by clouds (otherwise I think it would've been visible in the picture of the lake).

View from the top down into the valley.

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View towards the lakes where P. leptoceras grows.

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Finally, between two small lakes I found the beautiful P. leptoceras, which is endemic to the alps. Exactly what I had been hoping to find on the trip. :thumbsup:

P. leptoceras habitat, next to a lake at ~2700m. Only a few plants were in flower.

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P. leptoceras.

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Gorgeous !!!!

Fantastic landscape and photos. You have good photo-skills.

We passed Suisse two years ago on our way to Mira,Italy.

And I'm still in love with the views from the road and the mountains .

Suisse is definitely on my Holiday-wishlist :-)

Thanks for sharing them...

Iggy

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