Gardens in unusual places: under the aurora

Being way north of the Arctic Circle, the Norwegian Arctic/Alpine Botanical Garden in Tromso is dark 48 days of the year, so perhaps it needs to feature a few oddities like the one above to keep winter visitors interested.

These nostoc marbles (nostoc pruniforme) are normally barely noticeable but re-hydrate so magically quickly after rain they were once thought to have fallen from the stars and were known as star jelly. Some cold transparent lakes in Greenland have large colonies of them. And they are edible despite their scary genus name – cyanobacteria – which, if known, would tend to strike fear in the mind of a potential diner.

This most northerly of all the world’s botanical gardens is open all year and free. In summer, when it blooms a treat, it even boasts a cafe (June July August) though I don’t imagine they serve home-grown star jelly.

July 2019