The arctic summer is short and hectic. As soon as the sun starts melting away the snow in early May, plants of all sorts start popping up.
The first spring-flower you will find is Saxifraga oppositifolia (Purple Saxifrage). Walk a bit along the fiord, go either downhill or uphill from the road, and you will discover many little dark-green patches with beautiful purple flowers. After a long winter this is a sight for sore eyes.
In the days to follow, more heralds of spring will appear. The first ones will be the low plants close to the ground.
Walking in the hills you will find cushions of flowers everywhere. One of the species that you will find is Silene acaulis (Moss Campion) with flowers in many bright shades of red-violet.
Another one will be Loiseleuria procumbens (Alpine Azalea) looking ravishing with tiny pink star-flowers and magnificent dark-red buds on a background of olive-green leaves.
Diapensia lapponica (Lapland Diapensia) develop swelling buds bursting into the loveliest cream-coloured flowers.
You will see the irresistible Cassiope hypnoides (Moss Heather) spread like blankets in the hills, nodding their small bell-heads gracefully in the same direction. They look like pearls having been generously sprinkled out everywhere in the green.
Vaccinium uliginosum (Arctic Blueberry) also have sweet little bells, and in autumn they turn into tasty berries in the most beautiful dusty-blue colour, while the green leaves turn bordeaux.
Everything happens very fast now and you must be alert to keep up with what comes about. When you open your eyes and mind to all this profusion of vegetation, you cannot help feeling humble and moved and full of wonder and joy over the diversity and vitality of these tiny fragile fellow creatures.
In the hills you will now find the peculiar looking Pedicularis hirsute and flammea (Hairy Lousewort and Flame-tipped Lousewort).
Taraxacum (Dandelion) have invaded the town and beam like happy little suns along the roads and on the slopes. Cerastium (Chickweed) are also seen everywhere with pretty white flowers.
Oxyria digyna (Mountain Sorrel) you will find in abundance. The green leaves taste fresh and sour and are rich in vitamin C, - and used in traditional Eskimo cooking. In autumn they turn glowing yellow, orange, and red.
A walk in the Flower Valley
The renowned Flower Valley just outside the town is an obvious place to visit. It is a lavishly luxuriant area to go exploring for flowers.
On the left side of the gravel road to the church-yard you will first spot an area covered with Eriophorum scheuchzeri (Arctic Cotton-grass). In spring-time they look like tops of whipped cream on stalks. Later they become cotton-wads. If you look at them with a twinkle in the eye, you might find that every flower seems to have its own mood, reflected in the “hairstyle”. The flowers stand so close to one another that from a distance you might take them for a patch of snow. Later in life they look like wind-swept silk-treads. If you pluck the flowers in spring and let them dry, they will last nicely all winter and make lovely decorations.
Further along the gravel road you will find Salix glauca ( Northern Willow) grown to scrub, while the fine little Salix herbacea (Herb-like Willow) creeps close to the ground.
Empetrum hermaphroditum (Crowberry) dominates large areas. Its flowers are among the absolute tiniest little ones - like a red dot at the end of a sewing thread. But in autumn they turn into an abundance of tasty bittersweet black berries.
You might discover that Rhodiola rosea (Roseroot) can look amusingly like little families with a bunch of curious kids peeping out. The thick, fleshy leaves are edible and the plant is also part of traditional cooking. In autumn they turn extraordinary yellow-orange, almost luminously.
Comarum palustre (Marsh Cinquefoil) grows alongside the roads. Its flower looks like a raspberry snuggled into the bordeaux sepals. In autumn the green leaves turn glowing red and Bordeaux. Bartsia alpine (Alpine Bartsia) is almost aubergine-coloured and look honeycomb.
You will find Polygonum viviparum (Viviparous Knotweed) everywhere – the flowers are mostly white, but some are pink.
Euphrasia frigida (Arctic Eyebright) has lovely tiny white-yellow-purple flowers, which were in the past used as medicine against inflamed eyes.
On damp ground you will find plants that resemble Christmas-trees in doll-size - Equisetum arvense (Common Horsetail).
Betula nana (Dwarf Birch) grows into shrub. In autumn its leaves turn extremely bright red and add colour to the landscape.
The pretty Pyrola minor (Lesser Wintergreen) is one of the species that has been seen in increasingly large numbers in later years, obviously due to the generally warmer weather that we seem to be experiencing. Among other places you will find Pyrola in the area in front of the church-yard.
You cannot overlook Chameanerion latifolium (Broad-leafed Willow-herb), strikingly purple, and considered the national flower of Greenland. Its Greenlandic name Niviarsiaq means “girl”.
C. angustifolium (Fireweed) appears a little later in year, and is one of the species that has become not only more numerous, it has also grown taller the last couple of years. These lovely flowers are all over the church-yard now.
In the ditch by the church-yard you will find the pretty Saxifraga stellaris (Starry Saxifrage).
On the slopes
The hills on the right side of the road to the church-yard are for a good part covered with Alchemilla alpine (Alpine Lady’s-mantle) and alongside the little streams you will find the bigger A. glomerulans (Cluster-flowered Lady’s-mantle) growing fresh and green.
Apart from these plants, the hills are abundantly rich in flowers in mid-summer. More species than can be mentioned in this short brief. Apart from what is already seen, you will find purple flowers like the fine-smelling Thymus (Thyme) which is used in cooking, and Viscaria (Campion).
Blue flowers like Veronica (Speedwell) and Campanula (Harebell) and Phyllodoce (Mountain-heath) are everywhere - and if you look closely, you might find Viola (Violet).
Yellow flowers include Ranunculus (Buttercup and Crowfoot), Potentilla (Cinquefoil), and Hieracium (Hawkweed) – right behind the church-yard, the slopes are covered with Hieracium, and that looks beautiful against the afternoon sun.
There are also the white Arabis (Rock-cress), Draba (Whitlow-grass), Antennaria (Cat’s-paws), Gnaphalium (Cudweed), Tofieldia (Asphodel), - and many different kinds of Saxifragas.
And then there are Erigeron (Fleabane), and Thalictrum (Meadow-rue), Sibbaldia (Sibbaldia), Sedum (Stonecrop), - just to mention some.
Close to rocks you will find Woodsia (Woodsia) and Cystopteris (Fern).
In the moist ground alongside the lakes during our continued walk in the Flower Valley you will see the insect-eating Pinguicula (Butterwort), - with light-green sticky leaves close to the ground and a pretty blue flower. You will often see remnants of trapped insects glued to the green leaves.
On warm sunny days you might be fortunate to see full-blown Gentiana nivalis (Small Gentian), often along small mountain-streams facing to the south, or by the shores of the lakes. Despite its tiny size, this flower catches the eye with its incredible azure colour. It is a sensitive plant, - if a cloud blocks the sun, the flower will instantly close, and is then easily overlooked.
Lake 3 area
When you arrive at Lake 3 you may go to the right, up over the hill and down to the new gravel road.
On the way you might be lucky to find the tiny little Cardamine bellidifolia (Alpine Cress), not much bigger than a finger-nail, growing right out of the gravel.
Here, as well as in other moist gravel areas, you will find the beautiful Ranunculus glacialis. It grows here and further north, but not in West-Greenland.
If you continue on the road, turning back towards the fiord, and walk along the lake, you will find Diphasiastrum alpinum (Alpine Club-moss) and Juniperus communis (Common Juniper) on the dry hillsides to the left. Twigs of the latter were previously used for building home-made christmas-trees here.
If you want to see Dryas integrifolia (Entired-leafed Mountain Avens) you must go further up in the mountains, for example about halfway up the Sømandsfjeld. The cream-coloured flowers are enchanting, - and when they wither, they seem to get funny hairstyles.
If you want to go looking for one of the five Greenlandic species of orchids, you will have to walk to the other side of the Præstefjeld where Platanthera hyperborean (Northern Green Orchid) grows – as well as Polystichum lonchitis (Holly-fern). In this area Angelica archangelica (Angelica) can be found by the stream.
On your way to the Præstefjeld, you might also see Cardamine pratensis (Cuckoo-flower) and Epilobium hornemannii (Hornemann’s Willow-herb).
If you walk home by the beach along the fiord at low-tide, you will see Honckenya peploides (Sea-beach Sandwort) growing in the sand.
There is another plant, Mertensia maritime (Sea Lungwort) which grows in places where it is covered by sea-water at high-tide. You will not see it in many locations, but it can be found on the beach close to the heliport.
There is only little chance of finding Botrychium lunaria (Moonwort), allthough it does exist in the area. Since the 30 years when I arrived in Tasiilaq, I have only seen it twice. Once in 1978 in the Flower Valley, and once in 2004 up the Sømandsfjeld. It is a strange looking creature, somewhat primeval, - but what a thrill to find it!
As mentioned in the beginning the arctic summer is short and hectic. After the autumn’s colour-orgy the vegetation will again be covered by meters of snow during a long and cold winter.
But nature’s forces are incredible and by next spring an abundance of flowers and plants will again enchant us with their beauty and diversity.
