Hairy and dangerous

Hairy petals

There are so many hairy plants! Using my loupe, I have discovered that parts of plants that I never thought had hairs are covered in them. Petals and stamens, for example. And the roughness of grass leaves are due to tiny hairs. And I thought only mammals were hairy!

I mean, of course the hairs are different, but they look very much the same - like hair. Some plants look woolly, and some have silky hair, and some have hairs that hurt you or give the plant a rough feel. The plant kingdom is so very diverse, with lots of interesting ways to survive and thrive.

Hairy moss (putehårstjerne, Syntrichia ruralis)

I am learning about the Norwegian flora and fauna (the plants and animals of Norway), and the main part of my course is to classify organisms. This can be tedious work, but as mentioned before, it can be really fun to know what things are called and what sets them apart from the "crowd". This makes nature even more beautiful and interesting to me, and even short walks can take a very long time.

Beware! This lovely plant is really poisonous!
 (tysbast, Daphne mezereum)

I thought  the Norwegian flora was quite boring, but it turns out that there are some relatively aggressive plants. We have flesh-eating plants (soldogg/sundew, Drosera spp.), really poisonous plants (tysbast/mezereon, Daphne mezereum), and stinging plants (brennesle/nesle, Urtica spp.). In addition, almost everything looks better or more interesting through a loupe or a microscope, so there is often something good to discover.