Iceland and Greenland

Iceland is nearly treeless, but reforestation with
conifers from other continents has begun.

As a subarctic island, Iceland has a limited flora, though displays of wildflowers can be spectacular
during its short summer. As a way station between North America and Greenland, on one hand, and Europe on the other hand, much of Iceland's flora is circumpolar. 

 Iceland's youth has provided little time for endemic species to arise, in contrast with the nearest continents on both sides of the Atlantic. Iceland was created by a series of volcanic eruptions, beginning some 16-18 million years ago, that continue to today. It sits over a hotspot on the mid-Atlantic ridge, and its volcanic activity has gradually shifted to the southwest. Before we arrived in June of 2024, a new eruption began south of the nation's capital, Reykjavik. It's a similar situation to the volcanic activity in the Hawaiian islands which has shifted to the southeast as its tectonic plate moves over a hotspot. Iceland, in fact, reminded me a lot of the island of Hawaii, albeit a lot colder.

Dandelions provide bright springtime
color in Iceland and are even avoided by
lawnmowers. 

In addition to its volcanic youthfulness, Iceland was also completely covered by glaciers during the recent ice age, leaving a scant 10,000 years to become revegetated. Virtually every plant species in its flora came from somewhere else. Even the handful of species officially listed as endemic are closely related to species from other continents. By contrast, the flora of Greenland, which sits on an ancient shield formation, is quite rich. A brief stop in Greenland after we left Iceland, yielded nearly a dozen species. 

Colonization by Vikings some 1200 years ago and their introduction of both herbivorous and predatory mammals further interrupted the natural evolution of the Icelandic flora. any sort of natural floral evolution. 

Much of the lowlands of Iceland were actually forested, but the Vikings' demand for wood for housing and boat-building resulted in virtually every tree being cut down. So the iconic images of treeless green vistas in Iceland is also an artifact of human interference.

Lupines mingle with dandelions for an early 
wildflower display. 

In mid-June, the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere, wildflowers were just beginning to bloom in sheltered areas of Iceland. Aside from the ubiquitous dandelion, the most spectacular show was provided by the blue lupine, Lupinus nootkatensis. One of the plants most recently introduced, it has generated some controversy. Deliberately brought in from Alaska in the mid-1940s, the lupine has spread rapidly. As a member of the Legume family, lupine hosts symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria in its roots, and so enriches and stabilizes the depleted soil. Some consider this a blessing, while others call for the eradication of the exotic, invasive plant.  For better or worse, lupines have spread widely in cool climates, including in Patagonia and New Zealand.

Almost like a river of volcanic lava, a wave of blue lupine spreads across an otherwise barren Icelandic landscape.

Aside from that, a handful of plant species were beginning to bloom as the summer solstice approached. The few that I was able to capture are posted below. Enjoy. 

A lone Iceland poppy, Papaver nudicaulis,
makes an early appearance. Despite its name,
 it too is a widespread subarctic species,
not truly an endemic.

Cardamine pratense blooms in a 
sheltered location. 

A horsetail, possibly Equisetum pratense,
grows among rocks.

Buttercups (Ranunculus sp) are
abundant in Iceland and Greenland

Cinquefoil, Potentilla crantzii, in the Rose family, is a
 buttercup lookalike.

A wild pansy, Viola tricolor, survives on
a rocky mountain slope.

Saxifraga oppositifolia forms a low-growing
mat in exposed places.

Saxifraga has been featured on an
Iceland postage stamp.

The town of Paamiut, sits on the rocky west coast of 
Greenland. 

In Paamuiut, Greenland, Draba subcapitata
(lower) and Saxifraga caespitosa 
grow together. 

 

Viola tricolor in Greenland

In Greenland another arctic poppy,
Papaver radicatum is common.

Cerastium alpinum grows from a crack in the rocks.

A glimpse of Chilean plant life

 i was on a cruise along the coast of Chile last month. It was late summer and early Fall down there, not
exactly prime wildflower season, nor did I have much time on land. Nevertheless, as per my habit, I recorded whatever wildflowers I could find, and there were some very interesting ones. 

Chile is a long slender country. If you flipped it over onto the northern hemisphere, it would stretch from Alaska to Baja California, Mexico. So it has a wide range of climates and vegetation types. The southern tip is a stone's throw from the Antarctic peninsula, and the far north is barren desert. Our cruise focused on the fjords and glaciers of the southern third of the country. 

Glaciers and rugged mountains beyond counting line the Chilean coast.

The pictures that follow will speak for themselves. 

At our jumping off point in Ushuaia,
Argentina, planted flowers were at their
peak, giving hope that some wildflowers
would still be active.

Amidst the lichen-laden hrubby vegetation of the southern Chilean coast a lonely Chaura plant
(Gaultheria mucrunata) bears its crop of berries. Chaura is a relative of 
blueberries and cranberries.

At Punta Arenas, southernmost city in Chile,
yellow lupines (Lupinus arboreus), an invasive
species native to California, blooms throughout 
the short summer.

White daisies, possibly also from North America, also bloom
in Punta Arenas.

The native vegetation along the coast is dominated by Nothofagus antarctica, a relative of oak trees.

Fuschia magellanica, photographed here at the Rio Simpson Nature Preserve, is a common
sight in central Chile.

Gunnera tinctora is a curious plant with enormous leaves. Popular in
botanical gardens and landscapes in suitable climates, it is native
to southern Chile. Sometimes called Chilean rhubarb, because
its stems are used in the same way as a vegetable, it is unrelated
to the European rhubarb plant.

Because of its stiff, spiny-edged leaves,
Desfontainia spinosa is known as Chilean holly,
though it is in a completely different family, 
Columelliaceae. Note the lone orange and yellow
flower. 

Ferns are also common in the moist forests of southern Chile.

A touch of fall color comes to Chacabuco, Chile
in late March.

After disembarking our ship at Valparaiso, I was thrilled to spot the native Chilean Wine Palm,
Jubaea chilensis growing in large numbers on a dry hillside. I was able to snap some halfway decent pictures through the window of our moving bus.

In earlier times, sap was extracted from the palm trunks
and used for syrup and wine. The sap could be
extracted only by felling the tree, a wasteful process
that has been banned.

Japan in Winter

Camellias with a single whorl of red petals are
common in Japanese landscapes, and little
changed from the wild species found in Japanese
coastal forests.

 I just returned from a family trip to Japan. Why we went there in January is a long story. In short, it was fulfillment of a trip long delayed by Covid.  

Winter is hardly the time to look for wildflowers, but in climatically moderate places like Japan there is
much to observe about plant life. While more sensitive plants, like the iconic Lotus and Wisteria, are completely dormant, native Camellias are in full bloom. Evergreens, like the Black Pine and Bamboo can dominate landscapes and make on forget entirely what season it is.

The origins of Camellia japonica are given away by its scientific name. Hundreds of varieties are grown worldwide in warm-temperate and subtropical climates, providing colorful displays in winter. It is a close relative of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis), which is native to China.

Black Pines dominate Japanese gardens, parks, 
and temple grounds. These growing on a small 
island are on the spacious grounds of the
Kinkaju-ji Temple in Kyoto.

Many native species are revered elements of classical Japanese landscapes. None is more prominent than the Black Pine (Pinus thunbergii), which can be readily shaped by pruning, and even grown as bonsai. Buildings may even be modified to accommodate nearby specimens.

Near Kiamizu-dera Temple in Kyoto, this Black
Pine has been trained to grow along a rooftop.

At the Kasugataisha Temple, in the
ancient capital city of Nara, this roof
 was modified to accommodate the
trajectory of a nearby Japanese Cedar
tree  Cryptomeria japonica).

This Ardisia crenata, in Kenroku-en
Garden in the foothills of the Japanese
Alps, is still green and holding its fruit
a few days after an unusually heavy
snowstorm.

As elsewhere, many Japanese plants produce their berries during the winter. Often colored red, they stand out against bleak winter landscapes, offering food for birds.

Though not native to Japan, these Narcissus 
blossoms herald an early Spring in Tokyo.

Though not as spectacular as their 
cherry cousins, the plum trees are the
earliest to bloom. 

Native (?) Wildflowers of Hawaii

The Kahili ginger (Hedychium gardnerianum) 
seems perfectly at home in Hawaii, but
so much so that it has become one of the 
most troublesome weeds there. It's prolifically 
spreading rhizomes choke out native vegetation
wherever it takes hold. It comes originally from
India.

We usually think of wildflowers as colorful displays bursting forth after the winter thaw in an alpine meadow, or after a rainstorm in the desert. In the tropics though, we're looking for flowers popping up randomly in the rainforest, or perhaps on dry lava slopes.

 A more relevant question about Hawaii is "what are the native plants here?" It's a  more complicated and perplexing question than you might think. The hibiscus, orchids, plumeria, gingers, and heliconias we associate with this island paradise were all brought in by European visitors and settlers - so not native. The many climbing aroids - philodendrons, pothos, and monsteras that climb the trees in the tropical rainforests, along with most of the palms one sees, also came from elsewhere. Some have become invasive weeds. 

Plants brought by Europeans caused the most radical and disruptive changes to the local flora, but the vegetation has been continuously changing ever since the first volcanic cone of this island chain emerged above water. 

Before the Europeans, Polynesian settlers originally from the the Indo-Malayan region, brought in coconuts, noni fruits, breadfruit, taro, sugar cane, bananas, and other useful plants, along with chickens and pigs. So that brought about a significant disturbance in the flora as well.

So what plants were in the islands before the first Polynesian settlers arrived? There was of course a rich flora there at that time, what we might consider the true indigenous flora of Hawaii, but little that would be familiar to anyone. Even that native flora, however, arrived piecemeal over time. 

Ferns were among the first plants to arrive in 
Hawaii, and are still among the first to colonize
new lava flows.

When that first volcanic cone appeared millions of years ago, there was of course no native flora at all. The first plant life to arrive was of spore-dispersed plants like ferns and mosses (along with lichens, which are combinations of fungi and algae). The most familiar descendent of these wind-dispersed plants would probably be the Hawaiian tree fern, Cibotium menziesii, which can be seen in many parts of the rainforest, and are prominent in the undisturbed forest around the Kilauea volcano, in Volcanos National Park on the island of Hawaii. 

Hawaiian tree ferns in Volcanos National Park.

There are some salt-tolerant plants flowering plants, like the beach morning glory and "half-flower" (Scaevola spp.) that are everywhere along tropical beaches, and their seeds probably floated to the islands. 

Scaevola is a widespread genus of salt-tolerant
plants common along tropical beaches in the
Pacific region. Several indigenous species have 
evolved in Hawaii.

The beach morning glory (Ipomoea pes-caprae) 
is common on tropical and
subtropical beaches around the world.

Metrosideros polymorpha is still the dominant
tree in most parts of Hawaii.

The first woody plant to arrive was a species of Metrosideros, a relative of Eucalyptus and guava. It had no competition at first, and became the dominant tree of the Hawaiian rainforest. It evolved into many forms, including dwarf shrubs at high elevations. By some accounts there are now five species of Metrosideros indigenous to Hawaii, with M. polymorpha the dominant species. Experts estimate that about 275 flowering plant species migrated to Hawaii in the pre-human era, and from that base evolved into about 1000 endemic species.

In the Alakai Swamp on Kauai, Metrosideros polymorpha
grows as a low-lying shrub.

A silversword plant in bloom inside the 
Haleakala Crater on Maui.

Another indigenous plant is the odd-looking silversword  (Argyroxiphium sandwicense), found in exposed areas of the Hawaiian volcanos, and most readily seen in Haleakala Crater on Maui. There are some nineteen species of the palm genus, Pritchardia, that are found only in Hawaii.

So there are interesting native plants to be found in Hawaii, if you know where to look.

Nineteen species of the genus Pritchardia are the
only palms endemic to Hawaii.

The pink knotweed, Persicaria capitata, forms conspicuous
pink patches along the saddle road that crosses the island
of Hawaii. It is, however, a native of Asia.

I thought I had found a native species of Passiflora with distinctive feather-like bracts that wrap around the fruit as it develops. It turned out, though, that it was another import from tropical America, Passiflora foetida. (The petals on the flower have already
curled up.)