Nojosenvaarankuru – a plant treasure in Kuusamo, northeastern Finland

A very rich flora of vascular plants, mosses and hepatics was found on calcareous rocks, peatlands and forests in a small gorge Nojosenvaarankuru in the western part of Kuusamo parish (biogeographical province of Regio kuusamoënsis). The most remarkable find was a rich colony of Carex atrata, a fell plant, which has been noticed earlier in Kuusamo only in one nearby area, together with the hybrid with Carex media. The closely related Carex norvegica and its hybrid with Carex atrata are also discussed. Other northern calciphilous vascular plants include Saxifraga aizoides and Woodsia glabella. The hybrid Gymnocarpium continentale × dryopteris (G. ×intermedium) was found in the gorge, while G. continentale and G. robertianum were collected in the neighbourhood. A still richer area of this flora is in Oulanka National Park close to the eastern border of Finland. Nojosenvaarankuru is the southernmost locality for several other plants in Finland, e.g., Bartsia alpina and Astragalus frigidus. Furthermore Calypso bulbosa and Cypripedium calceolus were found close to the area.

The calciphilous moss flora included Campylophyllum halleri, Hypnum recurvatum, Mnium thomsonii, Orthothecium strictum, Platydictya jungermannioides, Hymenostylium recurvirostre, Pseudoleskeella tectorum and Seligeria diversifolia, among others. Ptychostomum longisetum was very sparse. Of hepatics Scapania aequiloba and Cephaloziella varians were collected for the first time in the province. Of other species, e.g., Odontoschisma macounii, Schistochilopsis grandiretis, Scapania gymnostomophila, Mesoptychia collaris and Mesoptychia bantriensis are worth mentioning.

Halla revisited – excursions to the island in 2018–2019

The rich alien flora on the island of Halla in Kotka, SE Finland (South Karelia) was described in a previous article (Kiviniemi & Kouvo 2018), where a total of 314 taxa were listed. Floristic studies on the island continued in 2018 and 2019. Storage of imported timber of mainly Estonian origin has significantly increased since June 2018, and most of the area is covered by huge stacks by September. In early 2019, the remaining buildings of the former power station were demolished. Changes in the environment on Halla island have been frequent during the last 200 years. Loading and unloading of large timber stacks will destroy much of the vegetation but new open ground is exposed at the same time for new plants to grow.

Regardless of all the upheaval in the environment on Halla, a few excursions could be carried out in 2018–19. Additional information was received from other botanists, local newspapers and radio programs.

Several interesting new taxa were found in the early summer of 2018, e.g. Carex rhynchophysa, Geum aleppicum, Alchemilla sarmatica, Alchemilla propinqua, Valerianella locusta, Veronica spicata, Holcus lanatus and Polygala comosa (for the latter, see Winberg 2019). In early September, the storage areas were already full and the only free route took in the west part of the island, where Asparagus officinalis, Persicaria maculosa and Medicago lupulina var. lupulina may have been brought in ballast more than one hundred years ago.

A visit made on 13 August 2019 presented a very different situation: the large timber stacks had disappeared and were replaced by almost plantless open fields. Many annuals were flourishing, including e.g., Solanum lycopersicon and S. nigrum. Some of the perennials seemed to have survived, e.g., young rosettes of Pimpinella major could be seen, and Astragalus glycyphyllos had even increased. Surprisingly, also Epipactis helleborine was found in the area, though the species is otherwise very rare in this part of SE Finland. Dactylorhiza majalis subsp. baltica had been found already in 2017, and also this species had survived protected in a sheltered corner of the otherwise heavily disturbed area.

Impatiens capensis in the surroundings of Lake Pyhäjärvi, Tampere, S Finland

Impatiens capensis is reported from several places along the shores of Lake Pyhäjärvi at Tampere and Nokia, S Finland (the biogeographical province of South Häme) in 2018–2019. The origin of these populations may be the lakeshore population in Hatanpää Arboretum at Tampere. The colonies along a path through a luxuriant forest at Rahola, Tampere, are regarded as originally cultivated. The species is probably spreading by means of its floating seeds along lakesides and watercourses in the area. This kind of dispersal was shown, e.g., in Lake Lohjanjärvi and suroundings, SW Finland, where the species invaded a wide area along lakeshores and rivers after it was intentionally sown in a limited brook-side habitat.

The species has also been found recently elsewhere in Finland and it is regarded as an invasive alien.

Books — Lutukka 35(4): 126.

• Arto Kurtto, Raino Lampinen, Mikko Piirainen & Pertti Uotila 2019: Checklist of the vascular plants of Finland. Suomen putkilokasvien luettelo. — Juha Suominen

Floristic note — Lutukka 35(4): 127.

• Polygala comosa is reported from the island of Halla in Kotka, SE Finland (South Karelia). Only one specimen was found in a storage field filled with imported timber mainly of Estonian origin. The species is very rare in Finland, known only from a limited area in the Aland Islands. The only earlier record on the mainland was made in 1904 in Espoo (Uusimaa), where the species was found as a casual alien. — Lars Winberg

A war against Garden Lupin on an island of the Gulf of Finland

Garden Lupin, Lupinus polyphyllus, is one of the most harmful invasive alien species in Finland. It occupies readily many kinds of open habitats such as meadows and road verges, and is thus a threat to several vascular plant species. Mäkiluoto is an island in Kirkkonummi archipelago of the Gulf of Finland (Uusimaa) and until 2016 no lupins were found there. The Garden Lupin arrived on the island when old military buildings were demolished and soil contaminated with lupin seeds was brought from the mainland to cover the ruins. An area of about 0.6 hectares was invaded by lupin, and there was very little time to react. After trying mechanical eradication it was decided that chemical eradication is in this case the only way to stop it spreading as most of the plants had not yet flowered or set seed. Two years after the eradication the situation on the island looks promising. Single lupins have survived and have needed to be removed regularly. In controlling the dispersal of invasive plants more attention should be paid to the possible contamination of soils transferred from one place to another.

Bindweeds in the Finnish flora

There are in the Finnish flora two species of Bindweed of the former genus Calystegia, now included in Convolvulus. The white-flowered Convolvulus sepium (syn. Calystegia sepium) seems to be native in seashore habitats along the southern coast and in the SW archipelago. On the other hand, it is also regarded as an invasive alien in the country. Today it is widely distributed and invasive inland over the southern half of Finland, occupying both natural habitats, e.g. along river- and brook-sides and lakeshores, and many cultural habitats and ruderal areas.

A red-flowered taxon, usually called Convolvulus (Calystegia) sepium subsp. spectabilis, is clearly a more recent alien in the country and of cultivated origin. This plant too is spreading in South Finland. As it is probably of hybrid origin between two species (Brown et al. 2009), it should be recognized at specific level. The correct name at this level seems to be C. dahuricus.

One more species, Convolvulus dubius (syn. Calystegia pulchra), was reported from Finland in the checklist of the Finnish flora in 1987 (Kurtto & Lahti 1987), based on a collection from SW Finland in 1972. It was recorded again in 2017 from SE Finland (Lampinen & Lahti 2018), based on field notes from a locality well known for its rich alien flora. However, the voucher specimens from both localities were redetermined as C. dahuricus in 2019. At present its seems that there are no verified records of C. dubius from Finland, and the species was recorded in error in the new checklist of the country (Kurtto et al. 2019).

The present state and conservation need of the colony of Lathraea squamaria in Dalsbruk, SW Finland

The colony of Toothwort in the village of Dalsbruk, in the archipelago of SW Finland, is the most prolific in the country. In May 2019 ca. 2,000 flowering shoots were counted, which is close to the record of 2,311 shoots in 2015. The habitat is a small area of herb-rich forest (0.4 hectares) with 66 European Hazel (Corylus avellana) shrubs. Toothwort is a vulnerable species in Finland with only ca. 40 sites in the country. Nevertheless the site in Dalsbruk has not been protected although herb-rich European Hazel forest should be protected according to the Finnish Nature Conservation Act. The forest would also need restoration, since several invasive plant species already exist there. The importance of the site should also be emphasized to local inhabitants in order to avoid damage, such as cutting and dumping of garden waste.

The population of Jasione montana is strong in Dalsbruk (SW Finland) but habitat protection is needed

The largest population of Sheep’s Bit, Jasione montana, in Finland is located in the village of Dalsbruk on the island of Kimitoön, SW Finland (biogeo­graphical province of Finland Proper). The distribution and abundance of the species were studied in Dalsbruk during the summer of 2019. Altogether 3,302 individuals were found in 16 separate sites, all of which were rocky and dry grassland hills facing mainly south and southwest. The total area of the habitats was 3.57 hectares. The number of individuals was almost three times higher than in 2014 when an inventory was carried out the last time. The species is endangered in Finland, with only around 50 extant occurrences in the country. Nevertheless the sites in Dalsbruk have not been protected. There are several threats to the habitats in Dalsbruk: overgrowth of meadows, alien invasive species, construction, and mechanical erosion of soil. Therefore, protection and restoration of the habitats would be needed.

Diplazium sibiricum in Finland, especially in the south

Diplazium sibiricum (Mole-Ladder, Russian Twinsorus Fern), representing the continental Eurosiberian floristic element or taiga element, is by far the northernmost species of its genus comprising 350‒400 mainly tropical species. The more or less continuous core of its total range extends from eastern Finland through boreal Russia to the coasts of the Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan. Both in Scandinavia and Asia there are some large disjunctions, of which the Scandinavian ones have been interpreted either as relics of a wider and more continuous distribution during the more continental climatic periods following the Pleistocene glaciation, or as products of possibly recent long-distance dispersal by wind or birds.

After the last glaciation, Diplazium sibiricum reached Finland from the east, apparently via three routes: first in the Allerød period around 11 000 BP and later in the late Preboreal and early Boreal periods c. 8 500 BP. The emergence of the oceanic Atlantic period stopped the westward migration and perhaps lead to fragmentation or even retreat of the western fringe of the range. Today, the southwesternmost Finnish localities of the species are in the biogeographic province of South Häme (8 sites) and just east of it in the province of South Savo (one site). Our knowledge of this somewhat disjunct extension of the total range and its connection to the southeastern Finnish localities has greatly increased with new discoveries in the last couple of decades, including the one made by the authors in Jyväskylä in 2019. The total number of known Finnish sites is now about 150, and c. 2/3 of them are protected by law, as is the species itself in Finland. The favorable level of protection is largely due to the inclusion of the plant in Annexes II and IV of the European Union’s Habitats Directive, as well as in the list of species that Finland has an international responsibility to protect and preserve.

Diplazium sibiricum has fairly strict habitat requirements, both as to microclimate and soil. It is principally a plant of luxuriant, moist, shady grass-herb forests and comparable spruce swamps, but especially on steep slopes and in deep gorges it also thrives on mossy scree. It clearly favors running water (streams, rivers, trickles, subterranean streams, seepage) and moderately to very steep north-facing slopes, and the habitats are quite often spring-fed and/or calcareous. The accompanying flora usually includes many demanding species, including other species of the taiga element, e.g. Galium triflorum, Glyceria lithuanica, Cinna latifolia, Agrostis clavata and Rosa acicularis.

Floristic notes. – Lutukka 35(3): 92–95

• Hypericum perforatum and Spergularia rubra were discovered as neophytes in the village of Pyhä, Pelkosenniemi, biogeographic province of Sompio Lapland (SoL) in September 2019. The former species is resident in Finland only in the south and has not previously been recorded north of the Arctic Circle. The latter species is very rare and perhaps still only casual, but probably becoming established in Finnish Lapland. – Arto Kurtto
• On 26.7.2019 we found a new stand of Prickly Saltwort, Salsola kali subsp. kali, on Grundvik harun, an islet near Jurmo Island in Parainen, SW Finland (Finland Proper). Five individuals were growing on a sand beach, partly upon drift of Fucus vesiculosus. Prickly Saltwort is a very rare and endangered species in Finland with only four vital sites in the whole country, Jurmo with its surroundings being one of the most important. The suitable habitat for Prickly Saltwort on Grundvik harun is very small, comprising only two ares, and the plant is suffering fromovergrowth. Therefore beach restoration is needed. – Panu Kunttu & Sanna-Mari Kunttu
• A peculiar and decorative form of Campanula rotundifolia was detected in Hollola, South Finland, in July 2019. Its corolla has up to 13 lobes and opens eventually into an almost saucer-shaped structure. The form may be a floral-structure mutant or a product of a sporadic disturbance of floral morphogenesis. – Arto Kurtto

New records of Agrostis scabra in Finland

Agrostis scabra has been known as an established alien in the Turku area, SW Finland (biogeographical province of Finland Proper) since the 1980s, and since then also ca. 40 new records have been made in the province. This article gives a summary of the records made since 1985 in the other parts of Finland. The species has been found in eight biogeographical provinces. It is probably established at least in Helsinki (Uusimaa), Seinäjoki (South Ostrobothnia) and Siikajoki (Central Ostrobothnia). Typical habitats are ruderal areas, plant nurseries, gravel pits and landfills. Although the species is usually regarded as an annual or biennial, the same individual plants were observed from August 2015 to late autumn 2018 at Raahe (Central Ostrobothnia).

Mistletoe (Viscum album) is gaining a foothold in Finland

Mistletoe (Viscum album) has during the 2010’s been spreading in the vicinity of Turku (Varsinais-Suomi, Finland).  This is the first known fertile V. album population within the country. The situation in 2018 is mapped here, with a review of the biology and dispersal of this hemi-parasitic species. V. album was found at 48 locations, with the total number of shoots (seed-originating clones) being 307. The plants were still young and mostly sterile. The most common host trees noted were Populus, Malus, Sorbus, Tilia and Acer species, all growing in open sites on the edges of inhabited areas.

The findings are consistent with first-generation seedlings, dispersed by birds from a common mother population. A candidate for such a population was located within the town of Naantali. The lack of Viscum album sightings in the surrounding districts would indicate that the current dispersal originates from mistletoe imported for decoration. The prospects of future dispersal in Finland are discussed, including the suitability of local host trees and the behaviour of birds.

Re-evaluation of seminatural agricultural biotopes in South Karelia, SE Finland

All 148 known seminatural agricultural sites of open meadows and wooded grasslands in the administrative province of South Karelia, which covers parts of the biogeographical provinces of South Karelia, South Savo and Ladoga Karelia in SE Finland, were visited in June – July 2018. Instead of thorough inventories of the flora and vegetation, only generalized evaluations of the vegetation were made, combined with assessment of the current management (mowing, grazing) and the biological value of the habitat, classified as nationally, provincially or locally important. The results were compared with the earlier inventories of the same sites between 1992 and 2014. Altogether 78 sites (53%), covering 93 hectares, were still recognized as seminatural (table 1). The results were similar to those of the previous inventory in 1999; however, 27 unmanaged sites (35%) were now borderline cases and would have been declassified with a more critical evaluation. More than a third (36%) of the important seminatural biotopes in 1999 were lost in 2018. The total number of nationally (2) and provincially (12) valuable habitats was also lower than twenty years ago (26). Approximately half of the sites were still managed either by mowing or grazing. The decreasing trend in quality and quantity of seminatural agricultural grasslands in South Karelia is in line with the national trend and highlights the importance of other types of managed habitats in maintaining the diverse flora and fauna of the meadows.

Non-native Blue Lettuce (Lactuca tatarica) found in the Archipelago Sea, SW Finland

Lactuca tatarica was found in 2018 from the island of Fårö, in the southwestern archipelago of Finland (prov. Finland Proper). This is the first record from the Archipelago Sea and the second time that the species has been found on a sand beach in Finland. Sand beaches and dunes are its common habitats by the Baltic Sea. In total, blue lettuce has been found from 13 grid squares (10 × 10 km²) of the Finnish floristic mapping system, from the south coast to Central Finland. Blue Lettuce is native in Eastern Europe, Asia and North America. It is an invasive alien in North and Central Europe, and classified as a harmful invasive species in Estonia and Lithuania, but not yet in Finland. However, it deserves the status of invasive species also in Finland, because it can spread to sand beaches, threatening their native species and habitats with high conservation values.

Anthriscus caucalis found from two localities in S Finland, as new casuals to the country

Anthriscus caucalis was found at Espoo (biogeographical province of Uusimaa) in June 2018. Some ten plants were observed in a ca. 40 m × 20 m wide area of ruderal meadow-like vegetation. The plot was dug up a few years earlier in connection with the extension of the parking area of a local warehouse, leveled and possibly sown with a mixture of lawn seed. Probably seeds of A. caucalis were introduced unintentionally with the lawn seed. In October 2018, the species was found again, from Järvenpää, 37 km from the previous site. One plant grew on an embankment constructed from waste soil, probably in order to serve as a noise barrier between a logistic center and a future residential area. It is not known whether the species was brought here with soil or as a weed in lawn seed. These are the first reliable records of the species from Finland.

Allium schoenoprasum on the prehistoric lake shore at a recently discovered inland site in SE Finland

The toponym ”Laukkakallio” (’Chive-rock’) in Kouvola, SE Finland, in a village mapped in 1918 made it possible to trace an ignored relict occurrence of chives (Allium schoenoprasum) with other species often met also on sea shores: Lotus corniculatus, Agrostis stolonifera, Viola canina, Achillea millefolium and A. ptarmica. The present relict localities of chives in the inland of S Finland are typically south facing open or nearly open, gentle slopes of rocks with a warm microclimate. The presence of black, temporarily wet biofilm on rock surfaces above chives may be essential for the plant’s survival. The biofilm probably consists of cyanobacteria capable of nitrogen fixation. Nitrogen released in the drainage water fertilizes the nitrophilous chives. In seashore habitats, nitrogen comes from bird droppings and food remains and/or algal bloom driven ashore. Today, Laukkakallio is situated 60–61 m above sea level, representing an ancient shore line (ca. 9730–9630 cal BP) from the Ancylus Lake stage of the Baltic basin history.

Does Heracleum sosnowskyi occur in Finland?

This article briefly summarizes the history and distribution of three species of Giant Hogweeds: Heracleum mantegazzianum, H. persicum and H. sosnowskyi, as they are understood in Nordic floras. In the authors’ opinion, H. wilhelmsii (cf. Pimenov & Ostroumova 2012) is probably a separate taxon deviating from H. mantegazzianum in characteristics of the indumentum of the rays, pedicels and fruits, and length and breadth of the resin ducts of the mericarps; it is not known from Finland. H. sosnowskyi, originally promoted as a silage crop for northwest Russia, is nowadays a widely naturalized alien species in the area of Leningrad Region, Republic of Karelia and Murmansk Region. In the adjacent parts of Finland, the current status of the species is unclear, but there are some unconfirmed observations. However, voucher specimens have not been collected, and the records cannot be verified. Morphological descriptions and a short identification key to the species are provided. Hints are also given on how to collect appropriate herbarium specimens.

Arctium lappa at Tampere (South Finland)

Three more or less established populations of Arctium lappa have recently been found at Tampere (biogeographical province of South Häme). In 2013 it was found on wasteland along a street in Holvasti District, where it grew together with A. tomentosum and A. lappa × tomentosum. In 2017, A. lappa was found near the stone church of Messukylä, built at the beginning of the 16th century, and, in 2018, nearby, in Vuohenoja District. The centre of the local settlement has been for centuries close to the church and Vuohenoja. A. lappa is here probably of ancient origin, having been able to maintain a small population in the residential area of detached houses. Holvasti was inhabited at least as early as in the early 1500s. The presence of Juncus compressus and Sisymbrium officinale – both regarded as indicators of medieval culture in Finland – is consistent with the idea of an ancient settlement in the area.
The populations of Arctium lappa in Tampere are threatened due to the increased management of wasteland areas by cutting them once or twice each summer. All of the localities mentioned here have been cut annually, often already by early July. A. lappa also grows in the old rubbish dump of Nekala and it has been found as a casual from the shore at a former saw-mill at Lielahti in 2002.

Floristic notes — Lutukka 34: 111–114

• Alchemilla parcipila Juz. is reported as a polemochore from two localities in Kuhmo, eastern central Finland, biogeographical province of Kainuu. It was introduced by Russian troops during the Finnish-Russian Winter War in 1939–40. The species has repeatedly been collected from these two localities between 1957 and 2016 but wrongly determined as A. glabricaulis H. Lindb. A. parcipila is native to a limited area in W Siberia and the easternmost Europe, but it has been found also in some localities in central and northwest Russia. This is the first record of the species outside of Russia. — Mikkko Piirainen
• Ceratophyllum demersum is reported from two new localities and Potamogeton praelongus from six localities in the biogeographical province of Central Ostrobothnia (W. central Finland). There is only one earlier record of C. demersum from the province, but the species was not refound from that place when searched in 2014 and 2016. The localities reported for P. praelongus are the only verified recent finds of the species in the province, most of the earlier records are already rather old. — Jari Särkkä

Books — Lutukka 34: 122-123

• Kouvo, M. 2017: Voikukkakirja. — Juhani Räsänen
• Mossberg, B. & Stenberg, L. 2018: Nordens flora. — Mikko Piirainen

Flora of the islands of Preiviikinlahti Bay, W coast of Finland

The flora of Preiviikinlahti Bay at Pori (prov. Satakunta) was studied on 45 islands and islets during the years 1991–2017. This article focuses on the vascular flora of the islands. The first part (published in Jutila 2018) concentrated on the description of the vegetation.

The most common species on the islands was Lysimachia maritima, found on 43 islands. The next most common were Stuckenia pectinataus (in sea water), Rumex crispus subsp. littoreus, Agrostis stolonifera, Phragmites australis, Argentina anserina and Juncus gerardii. Threatened species in the area were Hippuris tetraphylla (EN) and Galium verum (VU); nearly threatened (NT) species were Antennaria dioica and Centaurium pulchellum.

Several species are found in Finland only by the Baltic Sea: Atriplex littoralis, Cakile maritima, Carex mackenziei, Centaurium littorale, Eleocharis uniglumis, Honckenya peploides, Isatis tinctoria, Lathyrus maritimus, Odontites litoralis subsp. litoralis, Ranunculus baudotii, Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani, Silene uniflora and Tripolium pannonicum. Deschampsia bottnica in an endemic of the Bothnian Sea area. Also included were some subspecies, varieties and forms adapted to the seashore, e.g. Angelica archangelica subsp. litoralis, Myosotis laxa ­subsp. baltica, Argentina anserina ­subsp. groenlandica and Valeriana sambucifolia subsp. salina.

Other noteworthy species in the study area are Linum catharticum, Draba incana, Rhinanthus angustifolius, Cardamine hirsuta and Silene nutans. Among the alien species found in the archipelago of Preiviikinlahti Bay are Halerpestes cymbalaria, Ligusticum scothicum, Rosa rugosa, Sambucus racemosa and Lupinus polyphyllus.

The pooled number of vascular plant species of the studied islands was 326. The number of vascular plant species per island correlates strongly with the size of the island and its elevation, the latter being also an indicator of the geological age of the island in this land-uplift area.

Status of the invasive Nymphoides peltata in Finland in 2018

Yellow Floating Heart, Nymphoides peltata, has a wide distribution in several continents. It is regarded as native in most of Europe and Asia, but invasive in North America, New Zealand and since 2012 also in Finland. In Sweden it is a troublesome invasive species with about 40 localities in the southern part of the country. A survey of the distribution of N. peltata in Finland was made in 2018.

So far all the localities are concentrated in the South-West around the city of Turku (province of Varsinais-Suomi). Shallow lakes, reservoirs and slow rivers are infested by this species. It is found in 11 different localities and almost 50 stands. Two outliers are found outside SW Finland.

Nymphoides peltata may now be in a lag phase of distribution in Finland. The critical mass for an explosive phase may have been reached. The warming climate favours the species. Suitable habitats for N. peltata are found almost everywhere in Finland. It produces viable seeds in Finland and the seeds may be distributed by waterfowl.

The rapid invasion of Nymphoides peltata raises a serious question concerning the country’s ability to protect itself against new invasive species despite national strategies and international agreements. Much more dangerous invasive species are waiting beyond the country’s borders.

Non-native species richness along power-line corridors is partly related to garden-waste disposal

Alien flora of nine localities in power line corridors, used for garden-waste disposal, and another nine not used were studied in the City of Turku, SW Finland, in 2012 and again 2017. The species richness of non-native species in corridors used for garden-waste disposal and those not used indicated that waste disposal increases the species-richness of non-native species along power line corridors. In addition, the richness of non-native species in such corridors did not change during a 5-year period following the initial inventories, although the species composition of non-native species did change. In particular small, annual species originally found in the immediate vicinity of the garden waste disappeared during the study period, while larger, perennial plants remained in the corridor.

The results suggest that inappropriate garden-waste disposal may increase the species-richness of non-native species, although not all species imported into the corridors are able to establish viable populations. The most common non-native species found in corridors used for garden-waste disposal were found also in corridors not used for disposal. This indicates that garden-waste disposal is only one way in which non-native species are introduced to power line corridors.

Mass occurrence of Rumex maritimus in the outer archipelago of Helsinki, South Finland

Rumex maritimus was detected in great abundance on the island of Isosaari in the outer archipelago of Helsinki (prov. Uusimaa) in 2018. It was growing along the northern shore of the island between two parallel drift walls, probably in thousands. The seed may have arrived with high seawater during the winter 2017–2018, probably from the inner bays of Helsinki. Though there are no earlier records of the species from the island, the existence of an older seed bank might also be possible, as the locality has been only rarely visited by botanists. R. maritimus is regarded as endangered in Finland, and its only native occurrences are in the SE part of the country. In Helsinki, the species is most probably originally introduced.

Vegetation of the islands of Preiviikinlahti Bay, Pori, W coast of Finland

The vegetation of Preiviikinlahti Bay at Pori (prov. Satakunta) was studied on 45 islands and islets from 1991 to 2017. The bedrock in the area is mainly Jotnian sandstone (formed 1300 million years ago) with a belt of younger diabase (appr. 1270–1260 mya). The soil in the area is mainly till. The whole of Preiviikinlahti Bay belongs to the Natura 2000 network and some parts of it to the Sea of Bothnia National Park. The rate of land-uplift is ca 7 mm/year. Some islands have previously been grazed by sheep, but this practice is continued only on Julukari. In addition, cattle have access to a few islets near Hevoskari and Kumpeli. There are only a few summer cottages on these islands.

The average vascular plant species number per visit and the cumulative species number of all the visits were recorded for each island. The size, length of the shoreline, distance from the mainland and elevation were measured for each island. This paper focuses on the medium-sized and large islands; the complete data set is published in Jutila (2017). The highest, oldest and largest island is Kallioluoto, which was found to possess 246 species. The total number of species in all the studied islands was 326. Species numbers correlate strongly with island size and elevation, which indicates the geological age of the islands on this coast subject to land-uplift. The number of species increases immediately as elevation rises above the mean sea level.

The Preiviikinlahti archipelago contains diverse habitats from shores to dry meadows, heaths, forests and peatlands. Sea-level fluctuation and the soil parent material are defining factors for the vegetation. The shores of the islands are typically till with open vegetation. Deschampsia bottnica grows at water level, and slightly above it Lysimachia maritima and Argentina anserina dominate the geolittoral vegetation. Increasingly fine-grained parent material diversifies the flora with Centaurium pulchellum, C. littorale, Plantago maritima, Agrostis stolonifera and Juncus gerardii as typical species. The upper part of the geolittoral is often dominated by Lythrum salicaria, Filipendula ulmaria, Rhinanthus angustifolius and Parnassia palustris. The algae accumulation zone is dominated by tall herbs. In the epilittoral zone, nutrient-poor dry meadow is common, dominated by Galium verum, Fragaria vesca, Silene nutans, Sagina nodosa and Filipendula ulmaria.

On bird islets such as Harmaat, Rhinanthus angustifolius and Valeriana sambucifolia subsp. salina expand their ranges to the epilittoral. Sparsely vegetated stone and boulder shores are characterized by Silene uniflora and Angelica archangelica subsp. litoralis on Ykspihlava, Kloppa, Munakari, Katava, Puskuuri and Truutholma. Sandy beaches on Kallioluoto, Santakari, Ykspihlava and Mustakari are characterized by Honckenya peploides and Cakile maritima in the geolittoral, and Empetrum nigrum, Festuca ovina and Hieracium umbellatum in the epilittoral. The open shore area is delimited by Hippophaë rhamnoides and Rosa rugosa thickets.

Nutrient-poor, dry-heath vegetation is found on medium-sized islands such as Puolivälinkari and Puskuuri. The heaths are Deschampsia flexuosa – Cladina – Empetrum nigrum type. On larger islands the succession has progressed and heaths have closed up to form juniper thickets. By contrast, small islets do not provide enough shelter for the heath vegetation to develop.

Black alders typically form the first tree zone facing the sea. Mesic, herb-rich black-alder forests are formed on fine-grained, nutrient-rich and flat land, e.g. on Outoori. On larger islands succession leads first to mesic, bilberry-dominated pine forests and later to spruce-dominated forests.

Archipelago peatlands can be found only on Kallioluoto. Bogs are small, mesotrophic patches of open mire in rock depressions with Carex rostrata, C. vesicaria and Comarum palustre as dominants, and Drosera rotundifolia as a characteristic species.

Vascular plants of Helsinki 8. Additions to the native flora since 1998

Submersed aquatic plants of deep water are especially problematic in floristic mapping. Consequently, Zostera marina was confirmed as a resident member of the flora of Helsinki as late as in the first years of the 21st century, though drifting shoots of the species had been detected on shores of the city annually long before. The same inventories made by experts in diving also returned Ruppia cirrhosa to the extant flora of Helsinki. Of the shore plants, Ranunculus lingua has apparently been present on a shore of an inner bay of Helsinki already for long, but was not detected by us in the field work in the 1990s due to the dense vegetation cover and restrictions of the site (nature reserve). Sium latifolium and Euphorbia palustris were found on seashores of Helsinki for the very first time in the 2010s, but only as single plants and thus possibly remaining casual. Epilobium obscurum, a threatened species in Finland, was discovered in 2017 as a rather abundant ditch plant in northern Helsinki. Its historical status, whether native (apophytic) or alien, remains obscure. Lathyrus linifolius and Brachypodium pinnatum were added to the extant native forest flora of Helsinki in the 2010s, but the latter perhaps disappeared soon after its discovery. A large stand of Dryopteris dilatata, accompanied by Dryopteris expansa and hybrids between the two species, was discovered in northwestern Helsinki in 2015. There is only one earlier record of Dryopteris. dilatata from Helsinki, a single plant seen by us in the early 1990s.

Floristic notes – Lutukka 34(2): 53–55.

• Carex acutiformis is reported from Parikkala as new to the Finnish part of the province of Ladoga Karelia. The closest earlier known locality in Finland is situated in Joroinen (North Savo), c. 120 km NW of the new site. The main area of the species in Finland is in the southern mainland, where it is rather rare. The species is known also from the Russian part of Ladoga Karelia and the Karelian Isthmus at a distance of 100–130 km from Parikkala. — Jarmo Koistinen
• Blechnum spicant is reported from Keitele (North Häme). One plant was found in a roadside ditch in a dryish heath forest in June 2018. The species is very rare in Finland, and all recent records relate to solitary plants resulting from long-distance dispersal of spores. — Perttu Puranen

Peculiar flora on verges of a forest road

The flora on the verges of a newly built forest road was observed in 2016–17 in Espoo, S Finland (Uusimaa), in an area with fairly dry pine forest and bare rock outcrops. A peculiar combination of alien introductions, escapes from cultivation and species of luxuriant forests was found. The source of the flora was in soil spread along the road banks in 2015, the origin of which remains unknown to the author.

Reintroduction of Carex viridula var. bergrothii to its former habitats in North Karelia (E Finland)

Metsähallitus (National Board of Forestry) reintroduced Carex viridula var. bergrothii to two mires (North Karelia: Lieksa and Ilomantsi) in 2015. Tussocks, plantlets and ripe seeds were collected from an abundant population in an old soapstone quarry in Juuka. Before planting, the old ditches (draining the rich fen) in the mire of Lieksa were filled with peat. The reintroduction has been successful so far at the Lieksa site (majority of plants still alive, plenty of seeds germinated) especially on the bare peat surface. On the other hand, at the Ilomantsi site, seeds did not germinate and the plants are apparently failing to compete against the other vegetation of the site.

Alchemilla stellaris as a polemochore in Finland – the first record outside Russia

Alchemilla stellaris is endemic to the Volga valley in Central Russia. It has been recently found in the Republic of Karelia, NW Russia, as a rare neophyte. In 2017, the species was found in eastern Finland, Suomussalmi in the biogeographical province of Kainuu as a polemochore brought in by Russian troops during the Finnish-Russian Winter War 1939–40. This is the first record of the species outside Russia.

Alchemilla stellaris is a dark green plant. The lower part of the stem is hairy with patent hairs, the upper part is glabrous. Petioles of the rosette leaves are hairy with patent hairs, but those of the inner ones are often glabrous in their upper part. Leaf blades of the inner leaves are roundish and their basal lobes may touch each other. Leaf lobes are long and often triangular, giving the leaves a star-shaped appearance. Teeth on the lobes number 11–17, and they are obliquely triangular. Leaf lobes of the inner leaves are hairy above only along the wrinkles and close to their margin, below they are glabrous except for the main veins, which are hairy in their upper parts. Pedicels and hypanthia are glabrous.

The island of Halla – a paradise of neophytes in the city of Kotka

The island of Halla is located close to the city center of Kotka (South Karelia). The island served first as a Swedish (1791–1808) and then a Russian (1809–1830) fortification. Ballast was unloaded onto the island during the 1800s. The following industrial period included e.g. a sawmill (1876–1986), a terpentine factory (1890–1901) and a pulp mill (1903–1940). Several old polemochores and ballast plants survive on the island. The massive transportation of timber for the sawmill and pulp mill, largely from Russia, seems to be the most important source of alien taxa. After all the industrial activities were closed down, the buildings have gone to rack and ruin and the former open landscape is now becoming overgrown.

The flora of Halla was studied during several excursion to the island in August 2017. In all, 314 vascular species were found. The most interesting rarities on the island include Astragalus glycyphyllos, Briza media, Carex sylvatica, Chaerophyllum aromaticum, Ononis spinosa subsp. arvensis, Pimpinella major, Thalictrum lucidum, Torilis japonica, and Trifolium lupinaster, among others.

The authors suggest that many of the alien species might have come with Russian timber imported from the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, perhaps the area around Narva and east of it, based on the natural distribution of several species found in Halla.

Floristic notes – Lutukka 34(1): 9–12.

• Viscum album is reported from the Island of Vänö in Kemiönsaari (prov. Finland Proper). One plant was found parasitizing Betula pubescens. The species has rapidly spread in the metropolitan area of Turku (ca. 65 km N of Vänö) during the last few years. — Hanna Ranta & Joska Laine
• A short visit to River Summanjoki (South Karelia: Hamina) was made in August 2017 to see Sium latifolium, which is regarded as a critically endangered species in Finland. The species has been known from the lower course of the river since 1913, and it seems to thrive well at the visited site. This is the only native population of the species left in Finland, the other two having been lost during the 20th century. However, there are also a few recent casual introductions. — Matti Kouvo

Senecio inaequidens, Diplotaxis tenuifolia and other floristic finds at Santalahti, Tampere (South Häme)

Descurainia sophia, Lotus corniculatus var. sativus and Medicago sativa were found among huge colonies of Chenopodium album from the roadsides of the intersections at the W end of the new road tunnel at Santalahti, Tampere. In addition, e.g. Conyza canadensis and Herniaria glabra had colonized the filling earth area at the shore of Lake Näsijärvi – smaller stands of the latter had been known from the area since 1981. Finds of Senecio inaequidens and Diplotaxis tenuifolia were more surprising. S. inaequidens is a South African species, which has spread in Europe in recent years, but in Finland it has been so far known only from Helsinki and Turku. Probably it has arrived with traffic or construction activities, but the origin is unknown. Several exotic casual aliens were found especially in the 1960s and 1980s along the blind tracks and loading stocks of the paper and cardboard mills at Santalahti, among them Chenopodium acuminatum, Trigonella grandiflora and Rumex marschallianus. The mills are no more working, and the only alien from those years still left in 2017 was Sisymbrium volgense, known in the area since the 1960s.

Old and new records of Carex riparia in Espoo (Uusimaa)

Three out of the four known localities of Carex riparia in Espoo were checked in 2017. The species was still found in or close to each of them. In addition, one new locality was found. It seems that the species can survive also in the urbanized southern parts of the city, where suitable habitats may still be left in some smaller brooks or ditches, which have not been churned up too heavily.

Veronica anagallis-aquatica in Kouvola, SE Finland

Veronica anagallis-aquatica is rare in Finland, and most of its localities are known from the Aland Islands. The few records from the mainland are mainly old, and the only established populations have been known from Kouvola (South Savo), in 1930–1999. A new, vigorous, hundreds of meters long population in a ditch system was found in Kouvola in 2017. Also the localities of the previous finds were checked, and the species was found in or close to some of them. It seems possible that the species has spread in Kouvola rather lately, perhaps with earthwork vehicles or excavators.

Aquatic plants declining due to improved water quality

The aquatic vascular flora of a small lake in the River Lieksa in North Karelia has experienced changes during the last 60 years. As a beginning the water quality deteriorated due to nutrients released by log floating. After cessation of the floating in 1987 the river has gradually recovered. This has, however, caused declining of the flora as the nutrient content has reduced.

An amateur bryologist’s observations from some rock outcrops in eastern central Finland

Some interesting rock outcrops were visited in the provinces of North Savo and North Karelia in 2016. Bryum algovicum, Hypnum andoi and Schistidium dupretii are reported as new to North Karelia and Pohlia elongata new to North Savo.

Floristic notes – Lutukka 33(4): 112–117.  

• In August 2017, Lemna trisulca was discovered from Imatra in the western shore of Lake Immalanjärvi. This is the second find of it from the Province of South-Savo, and it was represented by a dense population amongst Hydrocharis morsus-­ranae, Elodea canadensis and other duckweeds (Lemna minor, Spirodela polyrhiza) in a recently dredged shore near the water-line. The first find from South-Savo is from Lappeenranta, Lamposaari in 1992. However, according to a herbarium specimen without a precise locality the species had grown in the province already in 1901. – Kimmmo Saarinen
• Carex vulpina is reported as a neo­phyte from Kuusankoski (Kouvola town, South Häme) from a former industrial dump, where it has been introduced with imported Russian timber. The species is rare as native or an archaeophyte in a limited area in SW Finland, where it is endangered. In addition, it has been found as a neophyte in a few localities as far north as Kemi (Outer Ostrobothnia). – Heli Jutila
• Ranunculus acris subsp. friesianus, Lamium maculatum and Lithospermum officinale were found in a former industrial dump at Kouvola, Saksanaho (South Häme). Their origin is probably in Russian timber imported ca. 20–25 years ago. – Anni Kiviniemi

Eastern immigrants in railway yards of Imatra, SE Finland

We investigated four railway yards in Imatra near to the eastern border of Finland (biogeographical provinces of South Savo and South Karelia). As timber is imported in large quantities via railways from Russia, we expected to find a set of immigrants of eastern origin at the yards. Unfortunately three of the yards were almost completely dead due to pesticide control in July 2015. The only yard not poisoned, near to Immola airport, was inhabited by Anthyllis vulneraria, Astragalus glycyphyllos, Corynephorus canescens, Geranium sibiricum, Hippophae rhamnoides, Medicago sativa subsp. falcata, Mycelis muralis, Rumex thyrsiflorus and Silene armeria, among others. In July 2016, other three yards were all ”green”, but we noted only a few intriguing immigrant species, such as Nuttallanthus canadensis, Sagina nodosa and Scleranthus perennis. In addition, a short visit to the old plain used for timber storage resulted in new findings of Juncus tenuis and Erigeron annuus subsp. strigosus, both previously unrecorded at the site. In general, the immigrant flora of railway yards and the adjacent environments in Imatra had similar elements to the flora of Voikkaa area in Kouvola, comprehensively reported for the readers of Lutukka in 2015–2017.

New finds of Cerastium fontanum var. kajanense in Kainuu

The serpentine variety Cerastium fontanum var. kajanense of the Common Mouse-ear is reported from three small outcrops of serpentine rock close to the main village of Paltamo (Kainuu). This rare and endangered (EN) variety was earlier known in Finland only in a limited area at the border between Paltamo and the neighbouring town of Kajaani, at a distance of c. 10 km from the new localities. The outcrops were rather heavily weathered and partly covered by serpentine gravel. The plants grew both on rock surfaces and in tractor tracks and ploughed spots of the surrounding forest cut area. The number of specimens was estimated in two of the localities to be c. 13,000, in each. The number is not as high as in the earlier known localities. However, the newly found populations are important for the protection of the variety. The study area is part of a larger serpentine area (Jormua mafic – ultramafic complex). Similar small rock outcrops are widely scattered in the area, and it could be worthwhile checking at least the most promising ones.

A new find of Alchemilla auriculata from Finland

Alchemilla auriculata originates from the Ural Mountains at the border zone between Europe and Siberia. It has been found from three areas (four localities) in Finland as a polemochore brought in by Russian troops during the Finnish-Russian Winter War 1939–40. It is known from Ilomantsi in 1955 (North Karelia; two adjacent localities), Kuhmo 1963 (Kainuu) and Paltamo 1958–59 (Kainuu). The history of these records is here briefly discussed. The species was found from a new locality in 2017, in a war-time Russian encampment site in Ilomantsi. This rare species, as well as several other polemochorous Alchemilla species, has now survived almost for 80 years after the war, showing remarkable persistency.

Alchemilla auriculata is 30–40 cm tall and dark bluish green. The stems are sparsely hairy with patent hairs below, glabrous in the upper parts. Most of the petioles are also hairy with patent hairs, but the petioles of one or two outer (“spring”) leaves are usually glabrous. The blade is rather dark, slightly dirty bluish green, 5–10 cm long, flat and roundish. It has usually nine lobes with (13–)15–17 rather coarse teeth. Length of the apical lobe is ¼–⅓ of the blade length, and the basal lobes touch each other. The blade is glabrous above (rarely sparsely hairy along the margins); below it is glabrous except for the main veins, which are hairy in their upper half (rarely sparsely hairy on the basal lobes). Petioles of the cauline leaves are short and blades roundish. The inflorescence, pedicels and hypathia are glabrous; flowers are small. (The small auricle-like appendages at the base of the leaf-blades mentioned in the original description, are mostly missing and seem to have no significance.)

Greater Water-parsnip (Sium latifolium) in the Kirkkonummi Archipelago of the Gulf of Finland

Exceptionally abundant colony of Geranium bohemicum in Kuhmoinen, Southern Finland

A controlled burning took place in a more than ten hectares wide area of clear-cut forest in Kuhmoinen (biogeographical province of South Häme) in May 2014. During the same summer, a massive colony of Geranium bohemicum raised in the burned area, plants estimated to be thousands. The area was an old refugee for local people during the Great Hate (1713–1721), and they carried on slash-and-burn cultivation there, last in the mid-1800s.  Probably the seed bank of G. bohemicum was from that period, i.e. more than 150 years old. In the subsequent years the amount of G. bohemicum plants rapidly decreased: in 2015 there was still open soil with charcoal and ash and hundreds of G. bohemicums, in 2016 some dozens. In 2017 the whole area was covered with dense vegetation of other species, and only two small specimens of G. bohemicum were found.

Floristic notes – Lutukka 33(3): 94–95.

• Several sheets of Alchemilla straminea were determined from herbarium specimens, erroneously named as A. glabra. The specimens were collected from eastern central Finland (Kainuu), Hyrynsalmi, Kangasjärvi in a locality used by the German army in 1941–44. Their origin is probably in hay cut from natural alpine meadows in Central Europe and imported for the troops. A. straminea was collected several times in at least four different localities in the area in 1952–1978. These are the first records of the species in North Europe. – Mikko Piirainen

On the plantsteps of Esko Thurén, an amateur botanist in Imatra

During the 1980s and 1990s, Esko Thurén collected thousands of well-prepared plant specimens almost exclusively from the town of Imatra, SE Finland. From a smaller set of duplicates of the collection donated to the South Karelia Allergy and Environment Institute in 1990, I chose some rare and interesting species and revisited those 14 locations in the summer of 2016. Only four were still alive, including Avenula pubescens, Veronica filiformis, Inula helenioides and Scolochloa festucacea. Now the samples collected by Esko Thurén are relocated in the Finnish Museum of Natural History (H).

New Red Data Book of Finland in preparation

The Vascular Plant Specialist Group, working under the auspices of the Finnish Environment Institute, has begun the substantial effort to assess the status of vascular plants in Finland. As previously, the criteria developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) will be used in the red-listing process, including some modifications and nationally decided applications. The Finnish Museum of Natural History (Luomus) has created a tool to facilitate the documentation of the assessments. The changes in the taxonomy and nomenclature adopted in the new list of vascular plants of Finland, prepared in the Botanical Museum, will be taken in consideration. The categorization process includes wild populations within their natural range, which comprises taxa that have arrived to Finland by natural migration and are established and reproducing in the area. Also taxa that have been introduced (intentionally or un-intentionally) by humans and naturalized before the year 1800 may be assessed. Specialists and botanical enthusiasts are asked to report information about threatened and near threatened plant populations, including those that have disappeared and reasons for that. The new Red Data Book will be published in the spring 2019.

Eastern anthropochore species in Lahti, S Finland, 2008

The vascular flora of the city of Lahti (mainly in the biogeographical province of South Häme, minor parts in Uusimaa) was researched during 2007–2008 by Antti Hovi and Marko Riikonen. Hannu Kämäräinen and Tapio Lahtonen monitored the flora of the tracks for Russian wagons in the railway yard of Lahti in 1999­–2010. The results of these studies are compared with Viljo Erkamo’s study of the anthropochore flora of Vyborg (South Karelia / Russia, part of Finland till 1944) in 1942. Erkamo listed 105 species related to Russian influence, 29 of them found already before 1942. Of the Russian species of Erkamo and Vyborg, 26 were found in Lahti at the site of Russian wagons and 37 also elsewhere in the city. Seventeen species found in Lahti belong to the group that were known in Vyborg already before 1942.

These eastern species are often continental and favor light and warm habitats. About 40 species in Lahti are more widely spread eastern species. They are spreading along railroads, especially the old Riihimäki – Lahti – Saint Petersburg railroad and the old Vesijärvi harbor railroad. Part of them are polemochores and found also in the area of old army barracks. Like railroads, eskers and moraine ridges (Salpausselkä) serve as dispersal routes for these eastern species, e.g. Artemisia campestris and Trifolium arvense. Eastern species are found also at landfills in Lahti, as they were in Vyborg of the year 1942. Common species to the landfills of Vyborg 1942 and Lahti 2008 were e.g. Silene noctiflora, Anthemis tinctoria, Helianthus tuberosus and Papaver somniferum. The importance of grain mill areas for eastern species has declined in Lahti of today.

The most common eastern species in Lahti are Tragopogon pratensis, Artemisia campestris, Melilotus albus, Vicia hirsuta and Conyza canadensis. The polemocore species of Hennala barracks have been monitored since 1921. Among them, Sanguisorba officinalis, Geranium palustre, Bromus inermis and Juncus compressus are worth mentioning.

Vascular plants of Helsinki 7. Contributions of the latest annexed area

As of 2009, adjacent land areas in Helsinki’s neighbours Sipoo and Vantaa were annexed into Helsinki. The land area of Helsinki increased by nearly 30 km² and the water area by about 2,6 km². The vascular flora of the annexed area was accurately mapped in 2011‒2015 as a supplement to the mapping of the former area of the city (land c. 187 km², water c. 500 km²). Despite its relatively small size, the annexed area strengthened considerably the populations of many native or archaeophytic plant species in the capital of Finland by adding numerous new occurrences and often also by increasing the average size of the occurrences. Due to the basically forested and rural nature of the annexed area, the greatest winners of the flora include especially plants of the following environments: (1) slope groves and mossy heath forests, (2) open bogs and pine swamps, (3) oligotrophic inland waters, (4) tops and precipices of high rock outcrops, and (5) semi-natural grasslands. Only two species, viz. Filipendula vulgaris and Hypochaeris maculata, were gained as new to the all-time flora of Helsinki.

Floristic notes – Lutukka 33(2): 42–43.

• A new northernmost record of Monotropa hypopitys subsp. hypopitys in Finland is reported from the biogeographical province of Outer Ostrobothnia (Obu/PeP), Pello. The locality is ca. 35 km further northwards (ca. 66°48,4’ N lat.) than the earlier northernmost record made in Rovaniemi four days earlier (Kekki 2016). -- Erkki Toivonen
• Dicentra formosa is reported as a dominant plant from a severely polluted pine woodland in Harjavalta, southwestern Finland. About a thousand flowering shoots of the species were found at a distance of 1,2 km from a smelting plant in 2017. Other plants are hampered by toxic metals (arsenic, copper, nickel and cadmium) at the locality. -- Markku Ryösä

Floristic finds from depot areas of Russian timber in Kouvola area, SE Finland

Interesting plant records from twelve pulpwood storage and processing areas at Kouvola, SE Finland (mainly in the biogeographical province of South Häme) were presented in an earlier article (Kiviniemi 2016). This article continues the theme by taking a closer look at the respective localities.

Pulpwood, mainly birch, has been imported by railway to the area from Russia in varying amounts according to the changing customs regulations. The maximum levels were reached in the early 2000s. The imported wood was stored in large stacks along the railway tracks and in railway yards. Aerial photographs taken in 2008 show huge white stacks of pulp birch in several places. Today, the imported wood is transported directly to storage areas inside UPM Kymmene pulp factory area, and temporary storage areas are no longer used.

Of the studied localities, the flora of the railway yard at Voikkaa was presented earlier (Kiviniemi 2015). The other localities include eight pulpwood storage areas (Kuusaanlampi, Kuusaanniemi, Kymintehdas, Pokinpelto, Saksanaho, Tillola – Miehonkangas, UPM factories) and a crane area for bundled wood (Kuusaanlampi).

Three of the localities are or include former industrial dumps (Pilkanmaa, Saksanaho, Vuohivuori), used in 1920–2000. They contain by-products from the pulp mills, sludge, ash, etc. The most important material regarding dispersal of seeds and other propagules is, however, waste soil from wood storage areas, composed mainly of birch bark mixed with sand and gravel. This kind of dump is not used anymore, as the waste is used in power production or as raw material for fertilizer industry.

The floristic results are summarized in Table 1. (50 most common introduced vascular plant species) and Table 2. (other interesting species – attached above in the list of contents). It is difficult to ascertain the origin of each species in different localities. However, the original vegetation in all the localities was largely destroyed. As most of the listed species are concentrated in these timber depot areas at Kouvola, it seems logical to draw the conclusion that they have a Russian origin.

Moerckia flotoviana and M. hibernica s.str. (Hepaticae) in Finland

A small number of Moerckia hibernica s.lat. specimens were determined from Finnish herbarium material, and both M. flotoviana and M. hibernica s.str. were found to occur in Finland. The key characters used in the determination of the species are discussed, as well as the preliminary results on their ecology and distribution in Finland. However, due to the limited number of specimens studied so far, their distributions and ecological preferences still remain uncertain.

Unusual activities with threatened plants at Tampere

Galium schultesii was found in two localities at Tampere, South Häme, in 2016, obviously intentionally planted in natural vegetation. The introducer of this threatened species destroyed one of the colonies later, after realizing that it had been revealed.

An alternative action plan has been suggested for maintenance of the Pyynikki esker reserve, advocated by a local society, which has collaborated with the administration of Tampere town. This plan proposes a so called refuge zone at the foot of the esker to house rare or threatened species to be transferred from localities being considered for town planning in order to avoid conflict with building activities. Also, sports activities like mountain biking, Frisbee golf and orienteering have been suggested for the nature reserve to create artificial open patches to renew vegetation. In addition, planting of rare esker plants in the area has been suggested. This kind of activity, however, goes against the principles of rational nature conservation, by trying to create ”a zoo of plants”.

Floristic notes – Lutukka 33 (1): 27–29.

• Monotropa hypopitys subsp. hypopitys is reported from Ounasvaara at Rovaniemi, the biogeographical province of Outer Osthrobothnia (Obu/PeP), N Finland. The only previous record known from the province dates back to 1904, ca. 70 km to the SSW. The new find (2016) is the northernmost one from Finland. – Tapio Kekki
• A small population of Lathraea squamaria was found in Eckerö (Åland). The locality is the third one known in the municipality. The habitat was a rich forest dominated and shaded by large spruces, with some Alnus glutinosa and Betula sp. but no Corylus avellana, which is the most common host for this parasitic plant. – Panu Kunttu
• Ulvinen (2016) reported the moss Philonotis yezoana for the first time in Europe, based on a specimen collected in Pallas-Ylläs National Park in 1965. The locality was checked in August, 2016. Philonotis yezoana was found in one small patch on a stream bank, below the rootstock of a fallen spruce. Other interesting species in the locality were the moss Tayloria splachnoides and the liverworts Marsupella sphacelata, Jungermannia obovata and Anastrophyllum hellerianum. – Timo Kypärä

German polemochores (alien plants spread by war) in Oulu

German troops were present in Oulu town (biogeographical province of Oulu Ostrobothnia, N central Finland) during World War II from 10.6.1941 to 14.9. 1944. Oulu was important for the German army as a centre of transportation, lodging, maintenance and exercise. The most important base was in Toppila harbour area, where troops and equipment as well as huge amounts of forage for the horses and mules stationed in northern Finland were imported. The transportation brought a large quantity of polemochores to the area. A barrack site called Vaakunakylä was built SE of the harbour. A training centre for SS troops, ”Little Berlin”, with more than 100 buildings was constructed in Tuira quarter. The only remains of the village are the former officers’ club built in mountain cottage style and given the name Alppila (”Alpine village”). A leave centre was built in Laanila along Oulujoki River and an exercise area was rented at Puolivälinkangas. Troops were lodged in tents between Isko and Kaijonharju.

Information on polemochores found in Toppila harbour and other areas leased to the Wehrmacht has been published in several papers, most recently in the Flora of Oulu (Väre et al. 2005), where most of the German alien plants were found to have disappeared due to building of the town. In 2016, more than 70 years after the German period, we tried to find what was left. 37 species, which were polemochores at least in some of their occurrences, were listed, and the most important of them are discussed.

The most prominent German polemochore in Oulu is Cardaminopsis arenosa. It was selected as the floral emblem of Oulu Town. At present it is common and abundant especially along railroads, also everywhere in northern Finland.

Luzula luzuloides is still growing in a grove by the Linnanmaa campus area of the University of Oulu at a site with several remains of German activity. Another occurrence is located close to a memorial stone for German troops. A third, newly discovered population in the eastern part of the town along Oulujoki River is of unknown origin. Poa chaixii has its northernmost locality in Finland in Linnanmaa campus area.

Alchemilla baltica was found in Toppila as late as the 1990s, but it is regarded as a German polemochore. It is known also from a few other localities in Oulu.

Centaurea jacea was common in Toppila during the German period. It was believed to have disappeared in the 1990s, but was rediscovered in 2016. It is not known whether the plant had arisen from the seed bank or arrived with lawn seed. According to the gardener in charge of the area only a couple of Poaceae species were sown there. The hybrid C. jacea × montana has been found both from ballast soil and as a German polemochore in Toppila.

Galium × pomeranicum is a polemochore in the German base areas. It has mainly disappeared from the built-up areas in Toppila. In addition, a variant with hairy fruits, var. trachycarpum, was earlier known from Toppila. Now the hybrid grows only along the railroad in the barrack square of the Finnish army, and probably it is of Russian origin.

Other polemochores in the present study are, e.g., Berteroa incana, Bromus inermis, Calamagrostis arundinacea, Dianthus deltoides, Heracleum sphondylium, Poa angustifolia and Vicia sepium subsp. sepium. Polemochores are part of our cultural history and deserve monitoring and maintenance.

The genus Callitriche (Plantaginacea) in Finland

Four species of Callitriche, viz. C. hermaphroditica, C. hamulata, C. copho­carpa and C. palustris are native in Finland and C. stagnalis has been found as a casual alien from Helsinki in 1940. Morphological, biological and ecological characters important for their recognition are given and discussed. C. hermaphroditica is represented in Finland by subsp. hermaphroditica and ­subsp. macrocarpa, which can be distinguished by the mericarps, in particular by the size and the width of the wing. The former is the only subsp. in fresh waters in southernmost Finland. It is rare in brackish water along most of the coast, very rare in central parts of the country, and more common in Lapland. It has probably decreased in recent decades. The latter is fairly frequent and the predominant subsp. in brackish water along the whole coast and in Åland Islands, and is absent from fresh waters in inland South and Central Finland, but present in freshwater sites in Lapland.

The taxonomy and nomenclature of Callitriche hamulata are discussed. The species is characteristic of several rivers in Lapland, but in South Finland frequently found only in Tampere and its vicinity since 1937 and occasionally from a few other sites. C. cophocarpa and C. palustris are widespread in Finland but they prefer different habitats, the former growing often in more permanent waters with some flow and the latter in temporary pools and on bare wet soil.

Floristic notes – Lutukka 32(4): 114–118.

• Blechnum spicant is reported from Vantaa Town, biogeographical province of Uusimaa. One sterile rosette was found in October 2016 along a path following an old tractor track in a mesic spruce forest. Earlier, the species was known from the province only from one locality in Porvoo Town, where it was known from 1907 to 1914. – Tapio­­­ Huttunen
• Equisetum variegatum was found in 2014 at Siuntio, Sunnanvik, from an abandoned quarry and filling earth area. This is the third known locality from the biogeographical province of Uusimaa and represents similar cases of recent immigration to this kind of man-made habitats as the previous ones. The species is rare to very rare in southern Finland close to the coast and common in the north, but almost absent from inland areas in the southern half of the country. – Jarmo Koistinen
• Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) and cowberry (V. vitis-idaea) are amongst the commonest forest plants in Finland, but a hybrid between the two has been found only at nine sites between 1964 and 2013, including four biogeographical provinces (EP, St, U, EH) in the southern parts of the country. In July 2016, we observed a fertile hybrid stand covering a few square metres in Puumala, South Savo (ES), being the easternmost locality in Finland so far. Ripe berries were intermediate between those of the parents both in appearance and flavour. – Minna Kähtävä-Marttinen, Arto Marttinen, & Kimmo & Saarinen

Bittersweet in the southeastern Sea of Bothnia area: distribution, growth forms and ecology

Bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara) was rare in the southeastern coastal regions of the Sea of Bothnia (SW Finland) until the 1970s. Only four indigenous occurrences were known in the outer archipelago. Owing to rising summer temperatures and the autumnal extension of the growing season since the late 1970s, Bittersweet has immigrated to 55 islands in the area. Migratory flocks of thrushes moving southwards along the coast in autumn may provide an explanation for its rapid and extensive spread in the offshore archipelago.

The prevailing growth form of Bittersweet in the area is prostrate or climbing and it prefers seaside Black Alder woodlands in the inner archipelago, whereas on outer treeless islands it is found in thickets of Sea-buckthorn and, occasionally, in clefts between large rocks. In addition, three other growth forms adapated to specific ecological conditions can be recognized.

Bittersweet is commonly regarded as a species of nutrient-rich biotopes, and this is true also for the outmost islands where organic deposits on seaside banks of gravelly and sandy drift-soil easily decay and become mineralized owing to the recent change in climate. In addition, the autumnal extension of the growing season has now made ripening of berries possible in offshore habitats.

In the inner archipelago, rocky islands – formerly treeless owing to intensive sheep pasturing – are today covered by pine woods rich in dwarf-shrubs, and consequently surface water becomes acidic, so preventing the growth of Bittersweet as well as Sea-buckthorn along the shore. So Bittersweet is confined to the islands having nutrient-rich moraine deposits and stocked with broad-leaved trees.

The flora of Mounts Jollanoaivi and Terbmisvárri in Enontekiö, northwesternmost Finnish Lapland

The mountains Jollanoaivi (1 026.3 m a.s.l.) and Terbmisvárri (1 028.8 m) are located just outside the limited area of the Finnish Scandes bordering on Norway and Sweden. The bedrock is pre-Cambrian, lacking rich calcareous formations typical of the Scandes. The tree line is formed by Betula pubescens subsp. czerepanovii at ca. 600 m in the eastern part of the main study area, but does not occur in this high-altitude oroarctic belt. Other trees, Populus tremula and Sorbus aucuparia subsp. glabrata are rare. Between the mountains there is a large mountain lake, Terbmisjavre at 612.7 m a.s.l. The escarpment of Mt Jollanoaivi is south facing and dry, that of Mt Terbmisvárri north facing and moist. The nearest mountains to the north, Kahperus and Kuonjarvárri (Väre et al. 2015), also exceeding 1 000 m a.s.l., are within the Scandes and have extensive calcareous bed rocks. These major areas are compared in the article. Kahperus and Kuonjarvárri have a rich flora of vascular plants and bryophytes, but in the present study area the species numbers are much smaller. In the former there are 36 calciphilous vascular plants, in the latter only 14. The numbers of threatened or nearly threatened taxa are 24 and 16, respectively. Perhaps more importantly, the number of populations and individuals of arctic-alpine plants are much lower on Mts Jollanoaivi and Terbmisvárri. As a matter of fact, many species have their southernmost sites in Finland at Mt Terbmisvárri. In total 200 vascular plant species including six subspecies, and 217 bryophytes, have been found in this ca. 40 km² area.

Vascular plant species on low rocky islets in open sea areas of the southern Sea of Bothnia

The vascular flora of the larger and higher islands of the SW archipelago of Finland has been investigated fairly thoroughly while rocky islets lower than three meters a.s.l. have usually been ignored. Rocky islets provide a very suitable site for studying the early stages in the succession of terrestrial vegetation and, in addition, differences between species in sensitivity to salinity. On rocky islets subject to uplift most species form ecological groups restricted to definite biotopes. In this study 60 flat rocky islets 1.5–2.5 m high and 100–240 m long were investigated in the main study area of the southern Sea  of Bothnia. Established vascular plants were listed and the ecological diversity of biotopes was described. For a comparison, 40 similar islets in the Kihti open sea area in the southern part of Finland’s SW archipelago were investigated, but only for species assemblages.

The following five habitat types with characteristic species are discernible: crevices of bare rocks (Puccinellia capillaris, Sagina procumbens), boulder heaps (Lythrum salicaria, Peucedanum palustre), stony rock slopes (Silene uniflora, Rumex crispus ­subsp. littoreus), lagoons (Potentilla palustris, Hippuris vulgaris) and dry grasslands (Deschampsia flexuosa, Stellaria graminea and many annuals).

Floristic notes – Lutukka 32(3): 85-87.

• Pedicularis sceptrum-carolinum is still common in northern Finland but has markedly decreased in the south. There has been a vigorous local population in Lappeenranta, South Savo, known since the 1980s. In 2016, more than 140 flowering shoots and even more sterile rosettes were counted along the moist railwayside ditches. Unfortunately no plants were observed outside the linear habitat of less than 100 metres length. Thus, the expected future improvement of the railroad is a potential threat to the survival of the species at the site, one of the last remaining ones in southern Finland. – Kimmo Saarinen
• Rumex thyrsiflorus is reported as an established neophyte in the biogeo­graphical province of Etelä-Savo, southeastern Finland. It was found on the steep embankments of the fortress of Lappeenranta (Linnoitus; main parts built in the 1720s). It is assumed to be of eastern origin, probably from the Russian period in the area (1743–1917). – Mikko Piirainen & Pirkko Piirainen
• The Field garlic, Allium oleraceum, was previously known from two localities in the town of Espoo, biogeographical province of Uusimaa. A third locality was found in a sloping meadow near the manor of Gumböle, known since the 1540s. About 20 shoots with 2–5 flowers but no fruits were seen; by the habit and according to chromosome counting they represent the tetraploid (2n = 32) cytotype. The Field garlic grew together with two woody taxa and 41 mainly common meadow plant taxa. – Helena Åström & Carl-Adam Hæggström

Some interesting records of vascular plants from depot areas for Russian timber in SE Finland

The author has studied the vascular plant flora in the railway yard at Voikkaa, Kouvola town in the border area between the biogeographical provinces of South Häme (EH), South Savo (ES) and Uusimaa (U) during several years. Records of many alien species proved to concentrate especially in places, where Russian timber had been stored or handled. Kouvola is known for its wood processing industry – both former and present – and there are several active or abandoned railway yard and depot areas similar to that at Voikkaa. In the spring 2015, the study was extended to cover 12 such localities in Kouvola. The intention was to find out the 50 most common species brought in with Russian timber. The project turned out to be both interesting and rewarding. This article presents the most interesting results of the first field season. The study area and a summary of the results will be presented later. The project is continued in 2016 with further field visits.

Four taxa new to Finland were found in 2015. Carex pilosa, a southern and southeastern European species of oak and beech forests, was found at Voikkaa railway yard in 2015, and in another locality at Saksanaho, in a former industrial dump in May 2016 (both EH). The species is also probably new to the Nordic Countries. Erigeron annuus subsp. strigosus was found at Kuusaanniemi timber depot in Kouvola (EH), Trifolium alpestre and Astragalus danicus at Miehonkangas timber depot in Iitti (EH). Other interesting finds were, e.g. Polygala amarella at Saksanaho (no previous records from Kouvola, rare in mainland Finland), Androsace filiformis (Kuusaanniemi), Astragalus glycyphyllos (Kuusaanlampi, ES), Thalictrum lucidum (Saksanaho) and Chaerophyllum aromaticum (Voikkaa; the second extant locality in Finland). Veronica beccabunga was surprisingly found in a partly covered ditch along the wall of an old warehouse in the industrial area of Kymintehdas (EH). There was only one recent record of the species from Kouvola at Mustila (U). Carex ornithopoda was found in a depot area as an alien; otherwise this rare and threatened species is only known from the Aland Islands in Finland.

Gentianella amarella in Vimpeli, Central Ostrobothnia

Gentianella amarella has declined in Finland since the 1950s. The total number of known localities is ca. 400, but only ca. 100 of them remain, and the species is regarded as endangered. Most of the extant localities are in the southwest (Aland Islands and Varsinais-Suomi), and in the north (Outer Ostrobothnia and Koillismaa). One of the largest populations, found in 1991, is located midway between these two areas in Vimpeli (Central Ostrobothnia) in an abandoned limestone quarry. In 2015, the total number of flowering second-year plants was estimated to be at least 6,440.

Philonotis yezoana new for Europe

The moss Philonotis yezoana was collected in Finnish Lapland (Pallas-Ylläs National Park) in 1965 for the first time in Europe. The site is very probably Varkaankurunoja brook on the northern slope of Ylläs Mountain (Kolari parish, biogeographical province of Kittilä Lapland). In companion there were several typical mosses of brook and brookside habitats, e.g. Pohlia wahlenbergii and Scapania paludosa. The specimens are at the Botanical Museum of Oulu University (OULU) and Finnish Museum of Natural History (H). The main distribution of P. yezoana includes Far East of Russia, Japan, Korea, western and eastern North America and Greenland.

The flora of eastern Finland as reflected in old school herbaria between 1925 and 1969

In a period of over one century between 1864 and 1969, most Finnish grammar school pupils were obliged to collect plants in their early teens. The number of species required varied between 200 in the early 1900s and 80 in the late1960s. We analyzed 885 plant specimens of seven old herbaria between 1925 and 1969, collected mainly in eastern Finland from the biogeographical provinces of South Karelia (Ka), South Savo (Sa) and North Savo (Sb). Among the most common of the 357 recorded plant taxa, Centaurea cyanus and Rubus arcticus have decreased markedly since the period of collection. Formerly a variety of meadow species, such as Dianthus deltoides, Trifolium spadiceum, Trifolium aureum, Galium verum and Bistorta vivipara, were also regularly collected by the pupils. Moreover we discovered some real meadow and weed rarities, including Agrostemma githago, Androsace septentrionalis, Apera spica-venti, Parnassia palustris, Polygala amarella and Selinum carvifolia. On the other hand, several species common nowadays were virtually absent or scarce in the herbaria. These included Angelica sylvestris, Campanula patula, Galium album, Lupinus polyphyllus, Amelanchier spicata and many of the common trees, such as Acer, Betula, Populus and Salix. While this may be partly due to practical reasons (such as ’no flowers’), it can also be indicative of true environmental changes related to forest management, including grazing and logging. Despite the rather small data set, it also nicely portrays changes in agricultural practices, both in fields and meadows, since the end of the collecting period more than 50 years ago.

Poa supina in the centre of Tampere

Poa supina was found in the centre of Tampere town (South Häme) in 2014 as wide mats in a trampled lawn in the former industrial area of Tampella. Though at least parts of the lawn are cut every year, the plant thrives, and in 2016 it still covered wide areas. The origin of the plant is unknown, but it is probable that the species has arrived as a seed weed in the rather newly sown lawn. As the other vegetation has suffered due to heavy trampling, Poa supina has been able to gain still more ground. It is also possible that the plant represents a North American cultivar advertised as highly resistant against wearing, as was also suspected in Helsinki in a similar case in 2008.

25 years of regular management and vegetation monitoring on a semi-natural meadow in Joutseno, SE Finland

The effects of mowing (1990–1995, 2014–) and grazing by sheep (1997–2012) on meadow vegetation were followed in a valuable semi-natural meadow located at Pellisenranta, Joutseno, SE Finland between the years 1990 and 2015. The vegetation data were collected on a grid of 45 sample plots (1 m × 1 m) in the year 1990 and 83 plots in years 1996, 2001, 2006, 2010 and 2015. Most changes in the vegetation were beneficial. Firstly, the management has increased species diversity. While the total number of species in the plots has remained approximately at the same level (75 species), the mean number of species per plot has increased continuously from 10–13 species in the 1990s to 17 species in 2015. Especially Anthriscus sylvestris (+36 plots), Antho­xanthum odoratum (+32) and typical species of mesic meadows such as Hypericum maculatum (+28), Ranunculus acris (+28) and Trifolium medium (+16) have been recorded increasingly often in the course of monitoring. By contrast, the number of plots has mostly decreased in Elytrigia repens (–30), Taraxacum (–21) and Campanula patula (–19), which are probably signs of the former cultivation in the 1960s. According to photographs, Viscaria vulgaris was very abundant in the dry meadow in the 1980s, but the abundance and distribution area of this meadow plant has decreased. In general the vegetation has changed from a dry meadow type towards a mesic meadow type, although many dry meadow species have also become more common due to regular meadow management.

Dactylorhiza lapponica s.str. is probably present also in Kuusamo Region

The taxon often named as Dactylorhiza lapponica has so far been known as a rarity in four provinces of North Finland: North Ostrobothnia, and Kittilä, Sompio and Inari Lapland. Unverified records have been reported also from Kuusamo Region and Enontekiö Lapland. A small population of 14 flowering plants was found in a small rich fen in Kuusamo in 2015. It is here interpreted as belonging to this disputed taxon. According to different views, D. lapponica is today either included in D. traunsteineri or both taxa together are included in D. majalis as subsp. lapponica.

Geranium sanguineum on a remote forest rock outcrop at Valkeakoski, South Häme

Geranium sanguineum was found on a terrace of a remote rock outcrop at Sääksmäki, Valkeakoski in the 1990s. The vegetation on the site indicates a rock with a high nutrient content, but some vascular plant species can be classified as weeds. The closest villages are at a distance of almost five kilometers. The population at Sääksmäki is of ancient origin, and it is possible that G. sanguineum is an old archaeophyte. Among the other species at the site, Satureja acinos is known from the near-by Rapola relic area. The steepness of the rock and a possible ruin of a stone wall might indicate the ancient use of the place as a fortification. G. sanguineum has also been used as a medicinal herb in the past. On the other hand, the remoteness of the site and the idea that some western plant species in Finland may have spread also from the south, make it possible that G. sanguineum could be also native. There is an older specimen from Sääksmäki without exact locality information, collected in 1882. With no further information, the origin of the species at Sääksmäki remains unresolved.

A public survey of Pulsatilla vernalis in South Karelia and South Savo, SE Finland

Pulsatilla vernalis is a vulnerable species of dry pine forests, flowering in the early spring. Previously recorded from 11 biogeographical provinces, its distribution nowadays covers mainly three provinces in the southeastern corner of the country. In the vascular plant atlas of Finland there were only 33 10 km × 10 km squares with a positive observation of P. vernalis since the year 2000. In spring 2015 we used a public survey via newspapers and social media to complete the current distribution of the species in its strongest footholds in South Karelia and South Savo. As a result 168 persons provided data from 164 different sites of P. vernalis. These were located in three biogeographical provinces (South Savo, South Häme, Ladoga Karelia), with most observations from the municipalities of Lappeenranta (42), Taipalsaari (25) and Ruokolahti (25). People were generally worried about the future of the species, as many sites were threatened by various environmental changes; also transplantations still occur. Furthermore, large populations are nowadays scarce and more than half of the populations had fewer than ten flowers. Judging by the lovely stories provided by many observers, the beautiful plant is warmly welcomed every spring in its natural habitat.

Brachythecium campestre – insufficiently known or truly rare?

Brachythecium campestre is a rare moss, in Finland occurring in mesic grasslands and forest pastures in the southernmost provinces. In the most recent Red List of Finland the species was evaluated as nearly threatened (NT). We revised B. campestre specimens kept in Finnish herbaria (H, OULU, TUR, TUR-A). Several collections accepted as B. campestre in the evaluation for the Red List of 2010 turned out to be mis­identifications. Of the correctly identified specimens only two were collected since 1970. B. campestre is thus rarer than expected, but it remains unclear whether the low number of observations reflects the confusing taxonomic history of the species or the decrease of suitable habitats in Southern Finland. We encourage especially those botanists working in habitats created by traditional agriculture to pay attention to B. campestre and to collect specimens for identification.

The flora of Mount Kuonjarvarri and neighboring fjelds in Enontekiö, northwesternmost Finnish Lapland

Three mountains, Gahperus, Kuonjarvarri and Toskalharji, are in the limited area of the Finnish Scandes bordering on Norway and Sweden. The area is located at the edge of the geological Kalak-nappe overthrust complex. All three mountains exceed 1,000 m above sea level. The tree line is formed by Betula pubescens subsp. czerepanovii at ca. 630 m in the neigbouring area, but birch does not occur in this high-altitude oroarctic belt.

These mountains are characterized by rocks which are mainly moderately basic or acidic and with scattered but locally extensive calcareous outcrops. Between the mountains there is a broad river valley with some high precipices, both dry south-facing and moist north-facing. The plateau of Kuonjarvarri includes environments resembling the high arctic, with many species having a main distribution area in the arctic.

This environment supports a rich flora of vascular plants and bryophytes. Many species have here their northernmost sites in Finland. On the other hand many arctic-alpine species have their southernmost Finnish sites in the area. In total 187 vascular plant species and five subspecies, and 280 bryo­phytes, have been found in this ca. 30 km² area. These include 24 red-listed vascular plants and 45 bryophytes, some of which are arctic-alpine species rare in the whole of Fennoscandia – e.g. Antennaria nordhageniana, A. porsildii, A. villifera, Ranunculus sulphureus, Brachythecium coruscum, Sciuro-hypnum dovrense, Bryum wrightii and Encalypta longicolla. Threatened and near-threatened vascular plants and red-listed bryophytes are listed.

Is Poa bulbosa an established neophyte or an archaeophyte in Halikko, south-western Finland?

The origin of Poa bulbosa L., a rare grass in Halikko, Salo, south-western Finland (Varsinais-Suomi), is examined in relation to other known localities of the species in Finland and Sweden. Poa bulbosa is considered a neophyte in Finland, but descriptions of the species’ habitats in e.g. Sweden suggest that it could just as well be an archaeophyte in Halikko. The surrounding grassland community in Halikko includes both archaeophytes and apophytes common to dry grasslands on shallow soils, such as Arabidopsis suecica, Galium verum, Geranium pusillum, Sedum acre, S. telephium, Trifolium arvense and Veronica verna.

The invasive alien Thuja plicata has thus far spread into the wild only from arboreta in Finland

According to the Finnish national strategy on invasive alien species Thuja plicata is a potentially or locally harmful alien plant species. There is one earlier case, on Pettu Island, where T. plicata has spread to the wild from old plantations, and two new cases are presented here.

Forests of two arboreta were inventoried in summer 2015: Godby in Jomala (Åland Islands) and Sahajärvi nature reserve in Salo (Varsinais-Suomi). The numbers of trees are presented in Table 1. In Godby 70 % of the trees were descendants of trees planted in the 1930s. They were growing within an area of 1.5 hectares of mainly mesic heath forest. In Sahajärvi, 68 % of trees were descendants of trees planted in the 1930s, mainly in mesic heath forest but also in herb-rich forest within a total area of one hectare. The diameter at breast height of the largest tree was 53 cm in Sahajärvi.

From a conservation and ecological perspective it is of great concern that so many invasive alien species are allowed to grow in Sahajärvi nature reserve, based on the history of the locality. All invasive species should be removed from the reserve because they have a negative impact on the natural biodiversity.

Are the largest Finnish populations of Viola stagnina at Vesilahti, South Häme?

Two large populations of the endangered (EN) Viola stagnina were found at Vesilahti in the 2000s. However, one of them has already declined close to extinction. A new population was found in 2014 about 500 m away. When the locality was visited in 2015, Viola stagnina was abundant along c. 140 m of the field-side bank of a major ditch running towards the shore of Lake Hulausjärvi. Later, the species was found also along five smaller ditches in the same field.

Floristic notes  – Lutukka 31(4): 124–125.

• Upright Hedge-parsley Torilis japonica has been growing on an island called Norra Tuholmen (or Toholmen) in Kimitoön (Kemiönsaari) already for 35 years. The locality is situated in the archipelago of SW Finland (Varsinais-Suomi). The species was found for the first time in 1980 and since then it has been observed annually. The number of individuals has varied from 20 to 40. The habitat is a meadow and a rock near an old building and the attached garden. The species is classified as vulnerable in Finland (Åland Islands); on the mainland it is a neophyte. There are approximately 10 known stands on the Åland Islands. In addition to the present locality, there have been casual finds from 1887, 1988 and 2012 in mainland Finland, and one extant locality. – Panu Kunttu
• The stand of Toothwort Lathraea squamaria in Tordalen (or Todalen) in the village of Dalsbruk is the most prolific in Finland. Dalsbruk is situated in the archipelago of SW Finland (Varsinais-Suomi). In May 2015 altogether 2 311 flowering shoots were counted in a small herb-rich forest dominated by Corylus avellana. The area of the stand was only 0.2 hectares. Nowadays there are about 40 stands of Toothwort in Finland but there are data on the number of shoots from only 15 localities. The second most prolific stand after Dalsbruk is situated in Klevbackaberget in Siuntio (Uusimaa) where 500–1000 flowering shoots were counted in 1989. – Panu Kunttu

Books – Lutukka 31(4): 126.

• Parnela, A. & Arkkio, H. 2015: Kissakalliolta Illeröömiin. Pirkanmaan kalliosammaltutkimus. [In Finnish with English summary (p. 231): The Bryophyte Flora of the Rock Outcrops in Pirkanmaa, SW-Finland; mosses on pp. 50–177; hepatics on pp. 178–218.] – Timo Koponen

Forgotten forest flora of soils exposed by uprooted wind-fallen trees

Soil exposed by uprooted fallen trees is a common and important phenomenon in natural forests. Due to intensive forestry fallen uprooted trees are uncommon and their importance for vascular plants has been neglected. Flora of 25 large, young (< 2 years old) soil patches exposed by uprooted Picea abies in herb-rich forests were studied in Lohja, SW Finland. Altogether 108 herbaceous vascular plant species were found, which probably grew to the exposed patches from seeds or spores. It seems that many species are able to grow in small gaps exposed by a single or a few uprooted trees inside herb-rich forests. Many species considered as archaeophytes in Finland (e.g. Campanula patula, Carex leporina, Hypericum maculatum, Trifolium repens, Veronica serpyllifolia subsp. serpyllifolia) were common in such places, and they are apparently native forest species, which depend on disturbances exposing soil. Most of these species typically have a long-term persistent seed bank, but several others have effective wind-dispersal of propagules.

Rechecking old habitats of the threatened flora in SE Finland

Between 1984 and 1990, as a young and fresh botanist, I collected a few rare vascular plant species in the area of Lappeenranta, SE Finland, biogeographical Province of South Savo. Most of them are nowadays evaluated as threatened. In the years 2014 and 2015, I revisited some of the localities, where almost all the species were still present. Most amazingly, Epipactis palustris (EN) had survived in a meadow ditched already in 1994, yet the habitat has turned into a dry and shady bushland. Anthyllis vulneraria subsp. polyphylla (CR) has markedly increased on the island of Hyötiö, where also probably the first populations of Rumex hydrolapathum in the Lake Saimaa area are known from. Trifolium montanum (NT) still grew along the old railway, accompanied by Rumex confertus and many other eastern immigrants. Carex bohemica (VU) was not seen in its two habitats in Pappilanniemi, most likely due to the high water level, but it was alive and well in a small marina in Muukonniemi. Although the last observations of Rumex maritimus (EN) in Mutalahti dated back to as far as 1998, it was now rediscovered in low numbers in the remaining parts of the bay. During the field work, some valuable localities, both new and old ones, were also checked in nearby Joutseno and Imatra. Since 2009, Ono­nis arvensis (VU) has survived in its roadside habitat although it has been mowed each year and the ditch was dug up in 2014. The regionally endangered Carex pediformis was very abundant on the island of Muukonsaari, accompanied by Galium triflorum and some other rarities. A population of Carlina biebersteinii (EN) in Imatra, already known in the 1870s, was still alive. The species was also observed in a small village in Joutseno where it has been recorded only twice before, both records dating back to 1929.

Floristic notes – Lutukka 31(3): 74–80

• The only population of Cypripedium calceolus in the biogeographical Province of South Karelia, SE Finland, has thrived from the first observation in 1962 to the summer of 2015 in the same luxurious spruce grove. In 2015, there were 12 fertile and six sterile shoots in the same two different stands which have been known for at least 25 years. Unfortunately the other northern rarity in the site, Equisetum scirpoides, has most likely disappeared since its last records date back to 1978. – Kimmo Saarinen
• Nowadays only a couple of surviving populations of Polygala amarella are known in the mainland Finland. In 2014, we discovered the species under a power line in Imatra, biogeographical Province of South Savo, SE Finland. The habitat was rechecked in June 2015, resulting in some 60 fertile plants counted in the semi-open spots dispersed in a willow thicket along the path. Open and moist habitat patches were inhabited by Carex viridula, Ajuga pyramidalis, Succisa pratensis and Alchemilla hirsuticaulis, among others. According to the Atlas of the Distribution of Vascular Plants in Finland, there are several older records of the species in Imatra between the years 1876 and 1934. It is thus possible that we rediscovered some old meadow population. Open meadow spots in the site are indicative of the grazing or mowing history, but during the last decades, the coppicing of the path has been the only management action. As a small plant, Polygala amarella is still mostly threatened by densely growing willows. – Kimmo Saarinen, Juha Jantunen & Tiina Vitikainen
• Ranunculus circinatus grew and flowered in exceptional volumes in Lake Outamojärvi at Lohja, biogeographical Province of Varsinais-Suomi in late summer 2015. Plants reached the surface from the depth of more than three meters in this clear-water lake. The dense colonies impeded the growth of more common aquatics like Potamogeton gramineus, P. perfoliatus and Nuphar lutea. In the author’s opinion, one reason for the phenomenon could be the climatic change. Heavy autumn rains, mild winters and even winter-time rain have caused exceptionally high rates of diffuse nutrient loads especially from the surrounding fields. – Risto Murto

Monitoring and management of Euphrasia rostkoviana subsp. fennica in Pirkanmaa, S Finland

Most of the early records of Euphrasia rostkoviana subsp. fennica from the Province of Pirkanmaa (located in the biogeographical provinces of Satakunta and South Häme) date back to the early 1900s; the first herbarium specimen was collected in 1880. Today, the species is regarded as threatened (EN) in Finland.

The species has been monitored in Pirkanmaa since 1985. This article summarises the situation at 11 sites monitored in 2003–2014. Several of these are located in areas with extensive fluvioglacial formations, where the species has found suitable habitats on dry meadows and at the margins of arable fields on sandy soils. Overgrowing of these habitats has been rather slow after cessation of the old-fashioned agricultural practices. Euphrasia rostkoviana grows also on railway banks, e.g. at Orivesi and Juupajoki. Nardus stricta, Gentianella campestris, Gymnadenia conopsea var. conopsea, Euphrasia stricta and Calluna vulgaris have been typical accompanying species in the monitored habitats.

Habitats of Euphrasia rostkoviana have been managed in four seminatural biotopes at Tampere, Viljakkala, Vesilahti and Nokia. The practice will be continued, although it seems that the species may have disappeared from two of the localities. The population sizes have also fluctuated. As an annual the species is dependent on regular seed yield; and sometimes pure chance, e.g. seed dispersal on tractor wheels, has influenced the population dynamics.

The Bank of Finnish Terminology in Arts and Sciences needs plant enthusiasts

The Bank of Finnish Terminology in Arts and Sciences (BFT) is an infrastructure project funded by the Academy of Finland and the University of Helsinki. The aim of this project is to build up a common term database for all disciplines of sciences and arts that are practised in Finland. The database (www.tieteentermipankki.fi) is created on a Wiki platform and it is open for all kinds of users, both experts and laymen.

Botany is one of the three pilot projects used to develop the platform. In the beginning 300 plant morphological terms were introduced and by now there are 2 616 terms included. In biology and environmental sciences, there are 5 290 and 6 009 terms, respectively.

The terminology work is carried out mainly voluntarily by limited crowd-sourcing. The definitions and other data presented on each term’s website are produced by expert botanists but anyone can participate in the discussions about terms. The BFT is also inviting plant enthusiasts to collaborate by submitting photos or drawings which would greatly help to clarify plant morphological terms. The illustrations will be published under the same terms of Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 licence as the other contents of the term web page.

Noteworthy finds of a few indigenous plants and archaeophytes in Central Ostrobothnia

During the systematic floristic inventory of the province of Central Ostrobothnia some new taxa for the province have been found. They improve and correct distribution maps in the Field Flora of Finland. Alnus incana subsp. kolaënsis has been found from several localities in the northern part of the province. Most finds are from small islands in the Gulf of Bothnia and are represented by small solitary trees or shrubs. In addition sporadic hybrids with A. incana subsp. incana occur in the province. A thriving population of Cardamine amara, several sq km wide, was found in Kokkola town, beside the Perhonjoki river. This population is one of the northernmost for the species in Finland. Salix repens subsp. rosmarinifolia belongs to a difficult group of willows. Some new finds are reported from the inland parts of the province, while on the coast Salix repens var. argentata is common. Their intermediates are morphologically very variable and they are frequent in overlapping areas. Many of the old localities of Drosera intermedia in Central Ostrobothnia have disappeared due to drying of peatlands. However, there is still a vigorous population in a large bog area in Kokkola town, Kälviä. Pedicularis palustris subsp. opsiantha was probably omitted in many earlier inventories, but since 2000 the taxon has been found from almost a dozen localities in Central Ostrobothnia, mostly from poor fens and fens adjacent to ponds. Further finds are expected. A well-established population of Picris hieracioides in Lehtimäki parish indicates that the species is in the province as an arcaheophyte rather than as a more recent introduction. A rare sedge, Carex atherodes, was found in 2005 as new for the province; however, the colony along a ditch in forest was very small and not thriving as well as in 2014.

Floristic notes – Lutukka 31(2): 55–63.

• Cardamine flexuosa, Cardamine hirsuta, Rorippa sylvestris, Arabidopsis thaliana, Galinsoga ciliata, Solanum nigrum and Veronica peregrina subsp. peregrina are reported as new aliens in the biogeographical province of Inari Lapland. They were found in 2010 at Ivalo in a nursery in the village centre or in a refuse disposal station a few kilo­metres south of the village. Myosotis sylvatica and Sorbaria sorbifolia were found in the latter place, both of them for the second time in the province. – Jari Särkkä
• Senecio doria is reported from a dryish railway verge in the city centre of Helsinki, where it grows as an escape from the near-by Botanic Garden. One plant was found in 2012. It has flowered annually and seems to make good seed but has not spread in its habitat. This is the first known record of the species as an escape in Finland. – Mikko & Pirkko Piirainen
• Some interesting vascular plant records are presented from Kerava town in the central inland of the biogeographical province of Uusimaa. Sorghum halepense and Arctium lappa were found in front of a corner shop. S. halepense is a casual alien in Finland, found in only 17 squares of the Finnish Vascular Plant Atlas (Kasviatlas) up to now. A. lappa is a rare archaeophyte in the southernmost parts of the country, but in Uusimaa it is only casual. Also Solanum nigrum and Datura stramonium were found in the locality, both locally rare in the area. A variant of Solanum nigrum with yellowish berries was found in a small land fill area, together with e.g. Herniaria glabra, which hasn’t earlier been recorded in Kerava. Trifolium campestre and T. dubium were found as new to the town by the wall of an equestrian manège. Both are rare in Finland, the former as an established alien, the latter only casual. Geum aleppicum has been known already for a long time in Kerava; now it has been found in two localities in the town. Veronica opaca was found at the margin of a ploughed field. – Lars Winberg
• Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima was found in the uncultivated margin of a sugar beet field at Mynämäki, SW Finland, biogeographical province of Varsinais-Suomi. The origin of the plant is unknown but may be connected to the history of the locality as a former experimental area of a sugar mill. Earlier records of the taxon in Finland are from Turku and Helsinki, the most recent one from 1965. – Tarmo Virtanen
• Winter flowering of Daphne meze­reum is reported from Espoo (prov. Uusimaa), the southernmost part of Finland. Mild winters in the 2010s have sometimes induced flowering already in November, sometimes in March, which is exceptionally early for the locality. In the exceptionally warm winter 2014–2015 flowering began early in December and lasted until May. – Vesa Järvinen

The inventory of Alchemilla hirsuticaulis habitats in South Karelia, SE Finland

In Finland, Alchemilla hirsuticaulis is a vulnerable species, confined to the eastern parts of the country, and South Karelia in particular. Most records date back to the 1960s and 1980s. There are only four new records since 2000.

In 2014 we inventoried 32 known localities of A. hirsuticaulis in the province of South Karelia. The plant was found from only 9 old sites; most of them were on road verges, or in semi-natural habitats and close to forest edges. One site was in a garden lawn and another in an abandoned field. A. hirsuticaulis had probably disappeared from the rest of the checked 19 sites. Most of these were overgrown or afforested meadows and field margins. Also construction and ploughing could be blamed for the destruction of some old habitats.

In the course of the inventory, altogether 15 new populations were found although no systematic search was made. The new sites were located mainly along road verges, in meadows and in gardens. These findings indicate that A. hirsuticaulis may still be a rather common species in the Lappeenranta – Imatra region, but it has just been overlooked because flower characters need to be checked carefully. Based on information from the current habitats, the species is rather tolerant of mowing of road verges and lawns, and it also tolerates some shading. There are probably many local populations of A. hirsuticaulis yet to be discovered in South Karelia.

Juncus tenuis and other aliens in Voikkaa railway yard, SE Finland

Voikkaa is a small population centre located in Kouvola town, SE Finland. Voikkaa railway yard was built in the early 1900s to serve the local pulp and paper mills. It has an area of ca. 20 hectares. Timber was imported mainly from the neighbouring areas of the former Soviet Union and later Russia, coal also from more distant areas. The mills were closed down in 2006, and much of the former railway yard with its storage areas is becoming overgrown.

At first glance the railway yard doesn’t look very interesting but it is worth a closer examination. The author visited the area repeatedly in 2006–2014, and the field lists include more than 300 vascular plant species. A strange assortment of alien taxa has appeared in the area over time.

Asarum europaeum, ­Campanula latifolia and Symphytum officinale were probably early invaders in the storage field. Also e.g. Cirsium oleraceum, Lotus corniculatus var. fallax and Veronica longifolia growing by the coal track probably arrived even earlier. Among other early incomers are many species common in several railway areas in S Finland, e.g. Artemisia campestris, Chaenorhinum minus, Medigaco lupulina, Trifolium arvense and T. aureum, which have also spread to the actual mill areas in Voikkaa. Anthemis tinctoria, Hyoscyamus niger, Melilotus albus and Verbascum thapsus probably came with waste soil.

Imported Russian timber has had a strong influence on the floristic composition of the vegetation in Voikkaa railway yard. A large quantity of birch timber was imported from Russia in spring 2008 before a rise in customs duties. The timber was stored in the railway yard and all storage areas in the surroundings for a whole year. A large number of viable seeds were probably shed from the bark. After this the area was graded with bulldozers in August 2009, which may also have brought seeds to the soil surface from an older seed bank.

In summer 2010 Cytisus scoparius, Dianthus deltoides, Genista tinctoria and Jasione montana were found in the railway yard for the first time. Subsequent summers brought still more new taxa, many of which were difficult for an amateur botanist to identify. Among them were Anisantha tectorum, Carex hirta, Corynephorus canescens, Gypsophila muralis, Juncus tenuis, Lactuca serriola, Scleranthus perennis and Torilis japonica.

It is difficult to judge the sources of the alien flora imported with Russian timber in 2008. Many of the species growing at the sites of the timber storage heaps could have their origin partly from the surroundings of St. Petersburg, and partly from more remote areas in Central Russia closer to Moscow, although some taxa, e.g. Cytisus scoparius and Genista tinctoria, grow mainly in more southern areas.

Two kinds of Gymnadenia conopsea (Orchidaceae) in Savonlinna area, SE Finland

Eight populations of Gymnadenia conopsea were studied in 2012 and 2014 in Savonlinna town and the neighbouring Rantasalmi parish. Four of the populations represented tall, white-flowered plants (in total 86 individuals) and the others smaller, red-flowered plants (69 individuals). The height of plants, length of spikes, number of flowers and width of the second lowest leaf were measured, and the period of maximum flowering was estimated on the basis of regular counts on each individual of the number of buds, flowers in full bloom and flowers starting to wither. Plants in the white-flowered populations were markedly taller, with greater number of flowers and longer inflorescences and their maximum flowering occurred in mid-July, 7–10 days later than in the red-flowered populations. The morphological characters measured of the white-flowered populations match quite well measurements from Central European populations, determined as G. densiflora, in this paper treated as G. conopsea subsp. densiflora. However, white flower colour is not considered indicative for G. densiflora in Central Europe. The morphological characters measured for red-flowered plants match G. conopsea s.str. Also the difference in the flowering time between the two taxa is notable, even though smaller in Savonlinna than in more southern areas. On the other hand, no clear ecological differences seem to occur in Savonlinna between the red- and white-flowered populations, but in spite of that they have remained distinct.

Floristic notes – Lutukka 31(1): 10–12

• Two of the three known old localities of Carex viridula var. bergrothii in North Karelia were checked in 2014 but the sedge was not found owing to the drying of the sites. Instead, a new site was found in an old soapstone quarry, and so the survival of the taxon in North Karelia was confirmed. The thriving colony, 25 m long and 0.5–5 m wide, was growing on a wet path and in a depression leading to the edge of a pond. – Juhani Räsänen
• An established small colony of Holcus mollis was found in 2014 from Kittilä Lapland, from Ylläs Fjell, beside a path under the ski lift. Recently this grass has been increasingly found from Finland, even in Lapland. The new find is so far the northernmost known locality in Lapland. – Juhani Räsänen

The history of the Finnish herbarium collections of Elatine alsinastrum

All herbarium specimens of Elatine alsinastrum (Elatinaceae) collected from Finland were studied from 8 Finnish, 5 Swedish and 6 Norwegian main herbaria. There are few specimens from the 1700s and early 1800s and almost all are in Swedish herbaria UPS, S and LD. They were sent to Sweden directly by the collectors or by professors of the Royal Academy of Turku, at that time the only university in Finland and enjoying close contacts with Uppsala. Obviously there were several specimens also in the herbarium of the Academy, but the herbarium, as well as most of the university, was burnt down in the Great Fire of Turku in 1827.

About half of the herbarium sheets represent different collections (differing in place, date or collector), and the others are duplicates. Practically all specimens were collected by Finns. The main collectors and the distribution of their specimens in Nordic Herbaria are listed. Elatine alsinastrum is a Finnish rarity among Nordic vascular plants and therefore much collected, so the numbers of specimens/sheets in Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian herbaria are exceptionally large, altogether 658 sheets. The numerous duplicate specimens were collected for the Exchange Club of Herbarium Specimens in Helsinki in the 1880s–1910s and for similar clubs in Sweden. They were mostly distributed to the members of the clubs, who, or their heirs, later donated the specimens to official herbaria. Reduced collecting due to the First and Second World Wars can be seen, and later collecting activity decreased generally. The slightly greater number of specimens from the 1980s and 1990s is due to floristic studies by the Botanical Society in Tampere and to the compiling of inventories of threatened plants. The gradual decrease of E. alsinastrum specimens also reflects the rapidly increased rarity of the species, which is caused by severe changes in land use and the abandonment of old agricultural practices, which created small, more or less temporary puddles, pools, ditches and other water bodies suitable for the species.

Moonworts under the microscope

The seven species of moonworts (genus Botrychium of family Ophioglossaceae) occurring in Finland are all declining. Five of the species are red-listed and two species are classified as near-threatened in the 2010 Red List of Finnish species. The most important reason behind the endangerment is habitat overgrowing and loss caused by the cessation of traditional management of meadows which has led to the fragmentation of moonwort populations and reduced the sizes of remaining populations. Beside traditional rural biotopes, moonworts are also met in natural habitats with regular disturbance (e.g. flood shores and fell meadows). Gathering follow-up data of the species and their populations is difficult since the species are very inconspicuous in their appearance, and there is great variation in the emergence of individuals between the growing seasons. In a new research project conducted in the University of Jyväskylä data of moonwort occurrences is collected in order to estimate the perceptivity, population dynamics, and the probability of extinction debt facing the populations of the Finnish species.

Cardamine flexuosa in Virrat, South Häme

Cardamine flexuosa is rare and endangered in Finland. It has only eight extant localities in the country. It was found in the municipality of Virrat, South Häme in 1998, on wet and soft spring-effected surfaces on the lower slope of the Ylisenhuhdanmäki hill. In 2003, another stand was found along a spring brook on a stretch of ca. 200 m. The population size was estimated to be ca. 700 plants. Because the species is under strict protection in Finland, a nature reserve was created to protect the population. Nevertheless, a forest cut was extended to the locality in 2013, and more trees were felled by the wind. Part of the population was thus exposed to full sun, and part of the spring waters were now running away from the plants in a newly excavated ditch. Cardamine flexuosa was now growing on a stretch of ca. 20 m, the population size had decreased to ca. 180 plants, and the population was threatened by extinction in spite of the protection. In the vicinity, also Carex appropinquata and C. acutiformis grow as relics of a warmer climatic period, similarly depending on nutrient-rich spring waters. Their habitats are situated inside a Natura 2000 area.

Veronica peregrina in Finland

Veronica peregrina has been known as a weed in the Botanic Garden of the university in Helsinki 1907–1953 and again since 1990. Both ssp. peregrina and ssp. xalapensis and their hybrid are known from the garden, but most herbarium specimens belong to the latter subspecies. Since 1999, the species has been found in  14 localities in the biogeographical provinces of Varsinais-Suomi, Uusimaa, Satakunta, North Savo, Central Ostrobothnia and Inari Lapland, representing 13 squares of the 10 × 10 km² grid used for floristic mapping in Finland. The species seems to be spreading from and between market gardens and nurseries, where most records have been made. All the new findings represent ssp. peregrina.

A native occurrence of Asarum europaeum in the biogeographical province of Uusimaa

Native occurrences of Asarum europaeum have been known only from one limited area in Finland, in the municipality of Iitti, South Häme. The distribution area covers in total ca. 50 hectares in five subareas along the valleys of River Taasianjoki and its tributaries. The area is in the proximity to the border between the biogeographical provinces of South Häme and Uusimaa, but the species has not been found from the latter province in spite of several attempts.

The species is here reported as native from the municipality of Elimäki, Uusimaa. The locality is situated ca. 3 km away from the closest occurrences in Iitti. Asarum grows here in several dozen patches at the area of ca. 2 hectares. The habitat is very similar to that in the earlier known localities, i.e. luxuriant spruce forest with several exacting vascular plant species.

Asarum is also commonly cultivated in Finland. It has been reported as an escape from or remnant of cultivation in several places in Uusimaa, as well as the provinces of Varsinais-Suomi, South Häme, South Ostrobothnia and Oulu Ostrobothnia.

The subspecies of Potentilla anserina in the archipelago of southern Bothnian Sea

The silverweed (Potentilla anserina) consists of two subspecies in the archipelago and coastal areas of southern Bothnian Sea: ssp. anserina, a widespread plant of temperate origin growing in natural and man-made habitats, and ssp. groenlandica, a hemerophobic plant of arctic origin confined to exposed sites of outermost islands.

The subspecies groenlandica is ecologically confined to a narrow belt between seaside meadows rich in halophytes and suprasaline salt-sensitive crowberry and juniper heaths. This subspecies prefers surf shores having gravel layers intermingled with sand and organic debris.

Whereas ssp. groenlandica is self-compatible, it is pollen donator in the direction to the self-incompatible ssp. anserina. Owing to this one-way gene flow the former will stay invariable and will have a narrow ecological amplitude, but the latter has developed into a multiform plant occuring in a great variety of habitats.

At the first sight, the morphological variation of anserina populations seems to be of random nature. Population analyses made along transects from a coastland area through the archipelago zones will reveal a continuous chain of fairly similar growth forms growing in seaside meadows. This biotype is detectable on roadsides and other man-made sites of old villages, too.

A careful analysis of diagnostic features will detect that plants of coastal areas are fairly intact whereas many populations in the outer archipelago are contaminated by ssp. groenlandica. The seashore meadow ecotype, in this broad sense, is the basic biotype of ssp. anserina originating in early Post-glacial period (Rousi 1965), but, in addition, there are some phenotypically distinguishable ecotypes or local races confined to marginal biotopes: (1) a large- and upright-leaved ecotype of stone-rich shores having hollows filled by drift soil and organic litter; it is a common race from continent to outermost islands (2) a slender, prostrate and very narrow-leaved ecotype of recently deposited seaside sands (3) a glossy and thin-leaved ecotype of drift sand and plant litter deposits at the upper edge of seaside meadows.

In addition there are detectable growth forms representing random variation, but the amount of such populations may be tolerable.

Platanthera chlorantha spreading northward in the southern Gulf of Bothnia

Greater butterfly orchid (Platanthera chlorantha) is known as characteristic of wooded meadows with ash (Fraxinus excelsior), maple (Acer platanoides) and hazel (Corylus avellana) in the SW archipelago of Finland, especially in Åland. On uninhabited, rocky islands of outer archipelago areas, especially in the northern part of its range, the orchid is to be found also in large crevices, weathering deposits under rocky walls and between stones on hillsides provided the sites have nutrient-rich crumb or litter mull covering.

Owing to the recent warming up and prolongation of growing seasons Greater butterfly orchid is spreading northward into the archipelagos of the southern Bothnian Sea. The extension of the range of the ash woods and the orchid will take place hand in hand so that the recently realized protection program of ash-rich woods is able to include all occurrences of the species.

Excluding the autonomous province of Åland, the Greater butterfly orchid is protected in Finland. This is important due to the very small amount of flowering plants in the great majority of its occurrences. On the other hand, the orchid is not a threatened species, since it prefers uninhabited, rather small islands accessible only with difficulty. In addition, the orchid populations are in small glades in the depths of woods or shrub thickets, sometimes also in hollows of rocky slopes.

Finding a new home for Early Marsh-orchid in Kerava, Southern Finland

Early Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza incarnata) is relatively common in Northern Finland, but rare in the south. A new locality was found in 1997 in connection with the floristic survey of the town of Kerava (biogeographical province of Uusimaa). The new urban locality – a humid roadside meadow is not typical for the species, which normally grows in fens and mires.

Monitoring of the new locality started immediately. Encroaching Salix bushes were identified as a threat for the orchid and yearly thinning out of the bushes was started. The management proved to be effective and the number of orchids started to increase.

However, the National Road Administration announced a plan to widen the road and the survival of the locality became uncertain. It was decided to transplant the orchids to a new locality. Finally a suitable locality – brookside with a small pond – was found a few kilometres south of the old one. In June 2009 the orchids were transplanted.

The transplanted orchids have survived the first five years in the new locality with some fluctuations. The year 2012 was critical because of the flooding of the brook. Most of the plants were submerged, but this was more of a problem for the botanists than plants. More individuals were found already the next year. Also in this new locality the fight against the Salix bushes is necessary.

A new and more flexible and pragmatic approach is needed for transplantation of endangered plants. The administrative ”red tape” has to be reconsidered.

Occurrences of Tellima grandiflora in southern Finland

A previously unknown occurrence of Tellima grandiflora, a North American species, was shown in a luxuriant forest environment in Medvastö, Kirkkonummi (Uusimaa) in the S coastal Finland. The species has probably arrived unintentionally and occurred there possibly since the early 1900s. Spread by seeds from ornamentals, T. grandiflora was additionally found in Espoo and Helsinki (Uusimaa). The first known occurrence of T. grandiflora, naturalized in a luxuriant forest on Island Kakskerta (Varsinais-Suomi) was described in 1949. The species was also found in Vantaa (Uusimaa) in 2000. In the course of time, T. grandiflora has potential to become an established alien species in Finland. It is commonly cultivated as an ornamental and it has been found to thrive as far north as Oulu. It produces plentiful seeds, which, moreover, can apparently stay long dormant when deep in soil.

Books – Lutukka 30(2): 59–61

• Hovi, A. 2010: Lahden kasvisto. – Teppo Häyhä
• Väre, H. & Keynäs, K. 2013: Hangon kasvisto – etelän aarre. – Mikko Piirainen

Several threatened species found from the sides of a one-kilometer-long stretch of road in Central Finland

A survey of the roadside flora was conducted in Central Finland in 2005–2009, and a special hot-spot area for threatened and rare species was found in Luhanka Parish, near the centre of the parish. After the survey the most interesting site, a stretch of road one kilo­meter long, has been visited regularly since 2010. During these inventories several new threatened species were found from roadsides, including Cyno­glossum officinale, Jasione montana and Carlina biebersteinii. Other interesting species include Anthemis tinctoria, Bunias orientalis, Campanula cervicaria, C. trachelium, Dianthus deltoides, Echium vulgare, Epipactis helleborine, Lathyrus sylvestris, Myrrhis odo­rata, Sedum annuum, Trifolium aureum and T. spadiceum.

Individuals of Carlina biebersteinii were unusually lush with branched stems and many heads, up to 37, prompting the question whether the plants might be of foreign origin. Moreover the number of threatened and rare species found in this relatively small area is exceptionally high, raising the further question of the origin of all of these species. There is no direct evidence for seed banks, self-dispersal or deliberate sowing. The road was improved in late 2010 but the majority of the species already existed before that. An optical cable was inserted in the roadside in late 2012 and this accelerated dispersal of the species. The gardens of the houses nearby have not been examined for planted species. Some local inhabitants have been questioned but no evidence of deliberate sowing emerged.

The roadside is quite luxuriant over a much greater distance and the forests beside the road also host several interesting vascular plants. In addition, several threatened moss species, almost certainly not sown, have been found in the area. Apparently the bedrock is very favourable for plants. The real cause of the rich flora remains unknown.

Luzula arcuata and L. confusa (Juncaceae) – a cryptic pair of species in North Finland

Luzula arcuata and L. confusa are closely related species, which have an extensive sympatric distribution in subarctic and arctic regions, and also in Finland. They have often been treated as subspecies, as in the latest Field Flora of Finland, but as species in most recent major floras. Sterile hybrids with deformed inflorescences and capsules and very poor seed production are common in Finland. On these grounds it is proposed that L. arcuata and L. confusa should be treated as separate species. The new morphological and ecological descriptions of the species are based on Finnish herbarium specimens and literature.

Especially in older field and literature records these taxa have been generally identified as Luzula arcuata s.lat. and only some of them have been documented by herbarium specimens. Accordingly a combined distribution map including both L. arcuata and L. confusa is given. Since the year 2000 I have kept the taxa separate in my field work in the far northwest of Finland, where both species are frequent and abundant. The Finnish distributions of both species are given on maps based on the herbarium specimens and my field data since 2000.

New find of naturalized Fragaria virginiana from the Helsinki Region of Finland

The second find of naturalized Fragaria virginiana in the Helsinki Region is reported from Vantaa. Further finds from Southern Finland are expected, and the author encourages field botanists to pay attention to remnants of abandoned and escaped cultivated garden strawberries.

Astragalus glycyphyllos and Geranium sibiricum as railway immigrants in Imatra, South-East Finland

Two small but fertile stands of Astragalus glycyphyllos were found in August 2014 in the freight station Immola in Imatra, SE Finland. This critically endangered species of special conservation concern has only two indigenous populations in Finland, but it is known as an introduced apophyte in managed habitats such as landfills and road verges. We suppose that the new population at Imatra, near the eastern border of Finland, is most likely due to immigration of seeds from Russia. Geranium sibiricum, another eastern railway immigrant, was noted at the same time in the main railway station at Imatra, some eight kilometres southwest of Immola. Both species have only some ten previous records each from Finland.

Late-flowering vascular plants in the Åland Islands, South-West Finland

Fairly warm late autumns and early winters (November – January) occur every now and then in SW Finland. We observed vascular plants in flower during two periods, 31 December 2006 to 1 January 2007 and 29 December 2013 to 1 January 2014. During the first period 12 and during the latter period 30 flowering taxa were seen. In all, 32 taxa were recorded. Two of them were garden plants and two garden escapes. More than half of the taxa were weeds and ruderals. Seven taxa are common meadow plants and one, Ranunculus ficaria, is mainly a species of lush deciduous stands. The most common plants in flower were Poa annua and Stellaria media. Other common taxa were Lamium album, Senecio vulgaris, Tripleurospermum inodorum and Taraxacum spp. The most spectacular species were Euphorbia peplus, Veronica persica, Cardamine hirsuta and Ranunculus ficaria. In both periods the fairly warm weather ended after the 10th of January. Most of these taxa have already been recorded in other publications as flowering in South Finland during warm late autumns and early winters.

• Ranta, P. 2014: Villit vihreät kaupungit. Suomen kaupunkikasvio. – Erkki Vilpa

The largest population of Sheep’s bit scabious (Jasione montana) in Finland

The largest population of Jasione montana in Finland is at the village of Dalsbruk on the island of Kimitoön in south-western Finland. The occurrence has been known since 1853. The distribution and abundance of the species were studied at Dalsbruk during the summer and autumn of 2014. Altogether 1166 individuals were found at 15 separate growing sites, all of which were rocky and dry grassland patches facing south and south-west. The number of extant occurrences in Finland is about 50, but the population is declining, e.g., because of overgrowth of meadows, house construction and mechanical wear of soil and bedrock. J. montana has been classified as vulnerable in Finland.

Floristic notes from the provinces of Varsinais-Suomi, Satakunta and South Häme of Finland

Lactuca tatarica has been growing in Turku Region since 2013, along the railway in the harbour of Naantali Granary. This is the first known find of the species in the province of Varsinais-Suomi. The accompanying species include Amsinckia micrantha, Lappula squarrosa, Consolida regalis and Sisymbrium loeselii.

A colony several square metres wide of Rumex thyrsiflorus was found in 2014 in St Pori, Reposaari, in an old ballast area, together with, e.g., Cichorium endivia. R. thyrsiflorus was not previously known from Reposari.

Cichorium intybus has been growing at least since the early 2000s in South-Häme, Hämeenlinna, close to the railway station. It can be considered established there on a gravel bank, as well as in some other places along the railway banks in the vicinity.

Trifolium dubium was found in 2014 for the second time in Hämeenlinna and in the Province of South-Häme. A colony several meters long was growing along the roadside, on a stone wall.

Reintroduction of an endangered violet, Viola uliginosa, in Tampere, Finland

Viola uliginosa is a strictly protected, endangered species in Finland at the northern limit of its distribution. It was found in Finland as early as 1851. Subsequently the number of coexistent localities increased to fourteen in the 1940s but then the decline began and has continued until today, with now only six localities remaining in Finland. One of the losses was the locality in the city of Tampere, where Viola uligi­nosa flourished in the 1930s. In spite of the species being protected a house was built on the site, and the violet disappeared in 1975. However, part of the population was transplanted elsewhere and it has survived ex situ until today in the Botanical Garden of the University of Oulu. The idea of reintroducing the species in Tampere began to attract support, and finally in 2013 seeds were collected for germination in Kumpula Botanic Garden (Helsinki). The results were more than satisfactory and in September 2014 forty luxuriant seedlings were transported back to Tampere. The site, an Alnus incana dominated flooding lakeshore, will be officially protected in 2015.

The Nordic Day of Wild Flowers 2014 in Finland

The Day of Wild Flowers was held on June 15^th 2014 in all Nordic countries, and for the 11^th time in Finland. Almost one hundred guided botanical field excursions were organized all over the country with ca. 1700 participants. For each Day of Wild Flowers a ”species of the year” is selected, and in 2014 it was Platanthera bifolia.

Finds of Charophytes and other aquatic plants in Lake Lehijärvi, South Finland

The seven-square-kilometre Lake Lehijärvi is a Finnish lake with an exceptionally rich aquatic flora, which has been inventoried several times since 1932. The most recent inventory was in 1996. Small parts of the shores were studied in 2013 by diving and from boat or canoe, and in 2014 by wading along the shallow shores. In 2014 the main purpose was to try to find localities of the alga Chara braunii, which is rare and vulnerable in Finland. Found for the first time in the lake in 1973, C. braunii was detected in 2014 at five sites of the studied 12 stretches of shallow shore. Colonies varied between 2 and 100 plants and were located in 0–15 cm deep water on fine sand – gravel bottom with a thin ooze layer. Nitella wahlbergiana is more common than N. flexilis (coll.). In addition, Chara globularis was found in 2014 as a new record for the lake. Among vascular plants, Lemna turionifera was a new record for the lake in 2013. Potamogeton crispus has much increased since the 1990s, while on the other hand Elodea canadensis seems to have decreased.

Scirpus radicans discovered in Lappeenranta, SE Finland

Scirpus radicans, an endangered wetland species in Finland, grows in only two remote areas in the country, in North Karelia and in the south-eastern coastal area. A small population was found in September 2014 halfway between these areas, at the town of Lappeenranta. Approximately ten tussocks were recorded from the shore of Lake Saimaa. They were growing on a new sandy cape of filling earth formed in January 2013 due to the failure and repair of the local sewage water pumping station. Based on information from the contractors, it is unlikely that the species had arrived with the soil or machinery. Thus the population may well have originated from seeds dispersed by water birds, most likely from the Vuoksi river system, where there are several populations of Scirpus radicans on the Russian side of the border. According to local residents, water birds were abundant in the melt water during the spill of sewage in the winter of 2012–13.

• The first confirmed locality of Scolochloa festucacea in North Karelia (PK/Kb) is reported from Rääkkylä parish, Ukonlahti bay of Lake Suuri-Onkamo. The locality is ca. 40 km from the eastern border of Finland and ca 80 km from the closest known localities on the shore of Lake Ladoga in Russia. – Jaakko Nurmi & Leena Pulkkinen