Spring break

"Vårfloran" is a Swedish field guide from 1999 by Bo Mossberg and Lennart Stenberg. I assume the latter is the actual author, while Mossberg is the illustrator. The subject of the field guide is plants which bloom in the spring, with a few non-flowering "horsetail" plants being thrown in for good measure as well. Here, "spring" is defined pretty broadly, from January to May (in northern Sweden, by contrast, its May to June). 

Since running around in early spring looking for, say, horsetails isn´t exactly my kind of thing, I can´t really judge whether or not "Vårfloran" is a good field guide or not, but it´s certainly aesthetically pleasing (more or less - not even Mossberg can improve a horsetail). It also contains more text than usual for field guides, including information on traditional herbalism! 

The area covered include Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. Both native species and various garden escapees have been included. Some of the plants are pretty iconic "springtime flowers", such as the daffodil, the poet´s daffodil, various crocuses, coltsfoot, the hepatica, and the wood anemone. There is also the mysterious calypso orchid. Fun detail: both the Western skunk cabbage (from the US) and the Asian skunk cabbage (from the Russian Far East) can occasionally be found in Sweden as garden escapees - the two species even hybridize?! There is even a plant that flowers around Christmas and yes, it´s called Christmas rose...

All plants in this book are based on actual specimens found by the authors in the wild, and the actual habitats are often depicted, as well. The book could be a good collector´s item even if you don´t understand the contents. Perhaps recommended?  

How Rama went full Druid and saved the White race

Édouard Schuré

”Giftiga växter” is a 1980 Swedish translation of a Danish book, written by Harald Nielsen with really good illustrations made by Bente Sivertsen. Yes, it´s a relatively popularized book about poisonous plants, mostly European ones (plants as in “green” plants – no fungi in this one, the fungi not being plants scientifically speaking, sorry). The species presentations describe the plant itself and the exact effects of its poisonous substances (this is not light bed-time reading!). In addition, we also get information about the role of the various plants in mythology and history. It seems humans (who didn´t invent modern medicine until fairly recently) always knew exactly how to kill each other with noxious weeds! No problem there…

If not used for murder or execution, plants were good for suicide. Thus, an entire Iberian tribe surrounded by the legions of Augustus chose death by a last supper on European yew, rather than being killed or captured by the hated Romans. Yew was also used by a Belgian king who didn´t want to give himself over to Julius Caesar, at least if Caesar himself is to be believed. There is (or was in 1980) some debate on whether Socrates was executed by drinking hemlock (Conium) or water hemlock (Cicuta). Apparently, Conium was once known as Cicuta, adding to the confusion. The author thinks it was Conium mixed with wine and opium! Another, somewhat peculiar, usage for poisonous plants was as a method to suppress sexual urges – monks and nuns were admonished to use certain species for this reason. Less peculiar is the use of noxious weeds as a form of chemical warfare.

During the First Sacred War in Greece, Solon (otherwise mostly known as sagely, wise and bearded) supposedly poisoned the drinking water of the besieged town of Kirrha (misspelled “Kirrka” in the book – it took me ages to find the reference on the web) with optimal quantities of hellebore. Or maybe it wasn´t Solon. Earlier versions of the same legend claim that it was Cleisthenes of Sicyon who poisoned the water supplies on the advice of a certain Nebros, who was an ancestor of Hippocrates! Either way, Kirrha had it coming, mistreating pilgrims bound for Delphi. You.Don´t.Do.That.

Sometimes, the author conflates mythology and real history. At least twice, he mentions the legend that Aristotle instigated the murder of Alexander the Great by poison. Supposedly, Aristotle then committed suicide by drinking a potion made of wolf´s bane to avoid being executed (i.e. forced to drink hemlock…or water hemlock). The Druids make several guest-appearances in this little book, being fond of both mistletoe and ferns. But the most curious reference in “Giftiga växter” is the claim that the Hindu god Rama was the first personage to learn about the medical effects of mistletoe, by the help of which he saved the White race!

Rama did…what?

Nielsen clearly thinks this comes from an ancient myth, but it is obvious from context that it must be modern. “The White race” is a modern concept, no matter what your local unfriendly Twitter troll might have told you. It took me about five minutes to find the source by simply reaching for my Android phone from Huawei: “The Great Initiates”, a work from 1889 by French esotericist Édouard Schuré (who later worked with Rudolf Steiner). In this book, Rama is a Druid (sic) who indeed saves the White race from a deadly plague by medicine made from mistletoe. How a claim from a French esoteric writer ended up in a Danish book on botany is, of course, an interesting question!

“They” are clearly behind this one!

Cool ferns

A new theory about why the Earth cooled about 50 million years ago. Yes, it was thanks to a fern known as Azolla! Could this save us from global warming? The short clip doesn´t say... 

Things we did on grass

Finally a modern field guide with color plates and species presentations on facing pages! The range maps are still tucked away at the very end, though. But then, perhaps we really are spoiled with good books here on Amazon?

Grasses, sedges and rushes usually get short-shrifted in field guides to flowering plants. As for ferns, they aren't flowering plants to begin with. To remedy this unfortunate gap in our standard floras, Richard Fitter and friends brings us "The grasses, sedges, rushes and ferns of Britain and Northern Europe". In good old insular fashion, the British definition of Northern Europe is somewhat strained. We're really talking Northwestern Europe: the British Isles, Iceland, Scandinavia, West Germany, Benelux and northern France.

25 families have been included: Gramineae, Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Juncaceae...and the rest are ferns.

You might not get a thrill out of this "grass", but I still think it's worth, shall we say, four stars?

Mixed emotions

“Tasmania: Paradise at the End of the World” is a nature documentary about wildlife and conservation in Tasmania, the island-state of Australia. It also deals with colonial history.

I got mixed feelings watching this production, since it literally *never* mention the genocidal war of the settlers against the Aboriginal population. This makes the romantic angle about “preserving nature as it originally was” look more absurd than usual. 19th century loggers and miners are painted as heroes, which is surely unusual in a nature documentary, but the viewer is given the impression that Tasmanian history started with these heroic settler-proletarians, when in reality Tasmania has been inhabited for 40,000 years by the Aboriginals!

That being said, the documentary is nevertheless interesting, with a good overview of the exotic animals and plants of the island. Wallabies, wombats, echidnas, the platypus and Tasmanian devils are featured. So is the extinct Tasmanian tiger or thylacine. The producers take the rumor about the possible survival of the thylacine seriously. So do I. On the plant side, there are tree-ferns, white gum trees and Eucalyptus regnans, said to be the largest flowering plant in the world. Sometimes, “Paradise at the End of the World” comes close to comic relief, as when a group of crow-like currawongs help themselves to the tourists' fast food below a huge sign saying “Don't feed the birds”! Since this is originally an ORF production, there is also an unintentionally comic Austrian angle, with constant mentions of one Gustav Weindorfer, no doubt a brave explorer but hardly a household name.

Had the documentary not tried to hide the darkest chapter in Tasmanian history, I would have given it five stars. As it is, I give it four. It *is* a good documentary with great footage of animals in various situations, and part of me wants to believe the romanticized John Muir-esque atmosphere, but I suppose I'm too cynical to entirely buy this "Whitewash"…

They can run, but they can´t hide

The book under review is called "Alien plants of the British Isles. A provisional catalogue of vascular plants (excluding grasses)". It's written by E.J. Clement and M.C. Foster featuring D.H. Kent. This is not a field guide or identification guide, but a catalogue or checklist. Each entry is very short and there are no illustrations.

Still, I was weirdly fascinated by this book... The information included is extremely detailed, worthy of some superpower intelligence service. Or the Illuminati, perhaps? It seems botany enthusiasts have mapped every little garden plot or meadow in Britain. Nothing seems to have escaped these guys. Can they be useful for more sensitive operations as well, I wonder?

Here are some examples of the CIA-like knowledge contained in this volume. Krauss's Clubmoss, originally from Africa, is "an established greenhouse escape". It's reported to have persisted for at least 50 years in Kilberry Castle lawn (Kintyre). The so-called American Maidenhair-fern is a garden escape established on a bridge near Virgina Water (Berkshire), probably now gone, also on a wall of a fern nursery at Kingston Lacy (Dorset). Ha, you can run, but you can't hide! And then, there's the Spider Brake: "A greenhouse escape which persisted for a few years in a basement enclosure in Bristol." Others are apparently easier to spot. The pesky Lawn Lobelia is a lawn weed in botanic gardens all over Britain! A bad move for an illegal alien anytime. A more sinister strategy is used by the Blue Woodruff, but our amateur spooks have discovered the security breach: it's a "bird-seed alien", spread by contaminated bird seed placed in feeders by unsuspecting British subjects.

Still, that does mean it can pop up *anywhere* near *you*. Have the Home Department been informed about this, I wonder?

OK, this is definitely my kind of humour. Five stars! But no medal, unless you catch that "Blue" Woodruff (it's really a red one, trust me). The Russians can't cheat me they can't!

The plants at the end of the world

Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southern coast of Patagonia, divided between Chile and Argentina. "Flora of Tierra del Fuego" is a serious, scholarly work by David M. Moore, who studied the plants of this distant land for a considerable time. The book covers both the Pteridophyta (ferns) and the Spermatophyta (seed plants, including flowering plants).

The book starts off with general chapters on Topography, Geology, Climate and soils, Vegetation types and History of botanical exploration. The species presentations are heavy with technical terms - this is obviously not a book for the beginner or causal tourist. Yet, it could be used as an identification guide, since it also include keys, black-and-white drawings and range maps. If you ever visit Tierra del Fuego, don't forget to bring me Sisyrinchium patagonicum, Philesia magellanica or Gavilea australis... ;-)

I give this guide to the plants at the end of the world four stars.

Pteridomania comes to Malaysia

"Ferns of Malaysia in colour" with text by A.G. Piggott and photographs by C. J. Piggott is the title of the book under review. It covers 392 fern species and varieties. The book features a staggering 1,363 colour photographs. Very short species presentations, not really a field guide, more of a photographic encyclopaedia. Still, the photos are real good showing the plants both in close-up and whole, and (sometimes) in its general environment. As a photographic reference work, good for fern-lovers and other pteridomaniacs in Malaysia, yes?

Volume One

A review of "Flora Nordica, Vol 1"

This is the first volume of a “work in progress”, of which only two volumes have been published so far. The ostensible goal of the Flora Nordica project is to describe all species of vascular plants found in the wild in the Nordic countries here defined as Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Svalbard (Greenland is not included). This volume comprises mosses, ferns and their allies, and gymnosperms. Flora Nordica seems to “shadow” Nationalnyckeln, a similar and even more ambitious project which has been discontinued due to lack of funding. In contrast to Nationalnyckeln, with its lavish color illustrations, the Flora only contains black-and-white illustrations, so we're dealing with a typical reference work for professional botanists, not something for the general public. A curious twist is that the work is in English, yet contains vernacular names in the Nordic languages only! Probably a must have if you are a scientist specializing in Scandinavian ferns or conifers, otherwise hardly worth the effort.

The Nordic Über-flora

“Den nya nordiska floran” is Bo Mossberg's and Lennart Stenberg's Über-flora for the Nordic countries, here defined as Scandinavia, Finland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Svalbard. The flora is intended for the general public, and all 3,250 species included seems to have been illustrated in color. The flora covers seed plants plus ferns and their allies. It's a wholly revised edition of “Den nordiska floran”, another mammoth work by the same authors.

Bo Mossberg is a distinguished, award-winning illustrator. He has worked on several “classical” Swedish floras. The illustrations in this particular work took him about 15 years to complete, working full time! But yes, he did cheat a bit, since the orchid section uses the same illustrations as an earlier book on that specific group. Mossberg is so well known in Sweden that his name is mentioned on the book cover before that of the actual writer, Lennart Stenberg, a biologist and ex-chemist who headed the botanical department of the Swedish Museum of Natural History when the flora was published.

The aim of “Den nya nordiska floran” is obviously to make a botany version of Heinzel, Fitter and Parslow's detailed field guide to European birds, a guide notorious for including virtually any vagrant birdie you're likely to encounter anywhere between the Green Island and the Caspian Sea. Likewise, Mossberg's and Stenberg's flora include not only indigenous Nordic plants, but also escapees from gardens, or actual garden cultivars surviving at abandoned property lots! Thus, the American purple pitcher plant grows at a few locations in Sweden (including Gammelstorp at Blekinge) and has therefore been bestowed with a full-size color illustration. Even the date palm has been included, since it sprouts at garbage dumps in southern Sweden (the sprouts die at the onset of winter). Just in case, species that are “previously known” from the Nordic area has been included, too, such as the Russian rose “Rosa jundzillii”, since one specimen was found at Stora Karlsö about 150 years ago. If you ever see it again, you know who you gonna call!

Naturally, not even the Perfect Flora can include literally *all* species of seed plant (or fern) found on our distant shores. Thus, there are – wait for it – 900 apomictic species of dandelions in Norden, hardly surprising since this notorious weed apparently reproduces asexually (that's what “apomictic” means), presumably cheating evolution in the process. Only a few dandelions have been included, most of them eerily similar. The only exception is the cool Arctic Dandelion which spouts white flowers and grows at Svalbard. OK, let me guess. Mr Mossberg didn't want to spend 15 years (full time) painting dandelions? He has my sympathy and understanding…

“Den nya nordiska floran” can be found in well-stashed Swedish public libraries, and while it's too heavy to bring out in the field (or to an abandoned property lot near you), it's probably a must have for all serious plant collectors, nature romantics or botany students. 

Suffering from pteridomania

Robbin C. Moran looks like the quintessential nerd: bad haircut, huge eyeglasses, boyish look despite being a scholar. Unsurprisingly, he has written a nerd book about - wait for it - ferns!

Thank God for Robbie, I don't necessarily mind ferns. Quite the contrary. In Sweden, we call them "snake plants" (or something to that effect), so I was fascinated by them already as a kid. Still today, I get an uncanny feeling walking in a forest where the ground is covered by ferns. After all, you never now what might lurk below them. Snakes, perhaps? (A clue: mostly mosquitoes!) One of the fern species growing around here has edible roots. Polypodium vulgare, I believe.

Still, a small word of warning might be in order. If you want to read "A Natural History of Ferns", you need to be very enthusiastic about the subject. Moran writes about fern taxonomy and the exact shape of fern buds with that nerdie kind of enthusiasm some people might find very annoying. In other words, you need to be a fern-lover already before you pick up this book, to really appreciate the author's efforts!

Like those ferns, Moran covers a lot of ground in his book. There are basic chapters on fern reproduction, hybrids, taxonomy and evolutionary history. Much of this information was new to me, for instance that lycophytes aren't fern allies, or that horsetails are ferns! I belong to the generation whose field guides were still made according to the old taxonomy.

The most interesting chapters, however, are those who deal with more human-related information. Did you know that Shakespeare mentions ferns in one of his plays? Or that fern "seeds" are supposed to have magical properties, according to some old wives' tale? Apparently, you are supposed to collect them on June 23, so I guess I just blew it. That was yesterday! Moran also mentions a modern Hollywood comedy about ferns, "A New Leaf". He discusses Arthur Conan Doyle's book "The Lost World". The plot of the novel is set on a mysterious hill in South America, known as tepui. Such hills actually exist, and are real havens for scientists interested in ferns. We further learn about an ill-fated expedition to the Australian hinterland, in which delicious but poisonous ferns played a part. And then there's the "Victorian fern craze" (pteridomania) in 19th century England, when English collectors almost drew ferns extinct in some regions. The author also mentions "the molesting salvinia", a dangerous weed that threatened entire regions in Sri Lanka, southern Africa and New Guinea, until scientists discovered a new species of beetle that only consumed salvinias, thus saving humanity from yet another environmental harzard. Sounds like the perfect topic for a Hollywood comedy...

"The Natural History of Ferns" also contain intriguing chapters about cryptid ferns, fern bulbs inhabited by really nasty ants, iridescent ferns that look blue (a photo is included), and the "fern spike", a fossil layer of fern spores which confirm the theory that the dinosaurs went extinct due to a meteorite impact. Moran also discusses the rather curious fact that the fern flora of the *eastern* United States is virtually identical to that of East Asia. He also takes us to the Juan Fernandez Islands, home of 54 fern species, 25 of which are endemic.

The weirdest piece of information in this book is the revelation that scientists who describe a new species have to do it in...Latin. Still today, over 200 years after Carolus Linnaeus. If I ever discover a new species of Polypodium, I guess I would have to keep it to myself! I didn't take those Latin classes in senior high, you see...

In sum, "The Natural History of Ferns" by Robbin C. Moran is exactly what you've been looking for - if you suffer from pteridomania.

Check out the Midlands

I can´t believe I wrote this with a straight face, but who knows?

This book is a flora of Leicestershire, a county in the English Midlands, Great Britain. It was published in 1988. At the time, Rutland was part of Leicestershire, but that region is not included in this book, since it has its own flora. (Today, Rutland is a separate county.)

The bulk of this book is an extensive checklist of ferns and flowering plants found in Leicestershire. There are no illustrations, and the whole thing looks like a phone directory. Species presentations deal with taxonomy, geographic distribution and the localities where the specimens used for this book were first found. Thus, this is definitely *not* a field guide. Still, it's an impressive achievement in its own right, being the result of 20 years of research. 1,279 species of plants are described, 1,080 of which have distribution maps.

However, the introductory chapters could be of considerable interest for botany buffs or Leics local patriots. This part of the book describes the county itself, its geology, soils and climate. The botanical survey of Leicestershire was obviously very thorough. Thus, the section on "recreation" details every possible recent human impact on the local flora which can be traced to recreational activities. Golf courses turn out to have a surprisingly positive effect, since only some parts of the courses are mown and treated with herbicides. Wild plants thrive in the unmanaged parts! Fox-hunters have promoted shrubs which may otherwise have had a more limited distribution. (Fox-hunting is a traditional British blood sport. The shrubs are provided so that the fox can hide before it's found and mercilessly butchered by the hunters. No "sport" otherwise, apparently.) Hedgerows of wild apple trees have been planted to provide food for pheasants, another popular game. Gardeners dig up "weeds", such as primroses, thereby limiting their distribution. Alien species are introduced through "wild bird seed" used at bird tables, or "wild flower mixes" of enterprising seedsmen. This means that uncommon herbs may show up at the strangest of places! (As a sidepoint, I noticed that kids from a day-care centre deliberately seeded non-native flowering plants in "my" strolling area - I wouldn't be surprised if this happens in the Midlands, as well.)

This book is an important addition to every Leicestershire library, but probably also to the botany sections of other libraries the world over. However, the checklist probably does need an update. After all, it was published in 1988!