flowers of the Southern Öland world heritage (mid-May)

During my visit to Kalmar, I also took the bike ferry across the water to Öland, the second of Sweden’s two large islands. About half the island, the southern part, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, due to its very old agricultural landscape. Special climatological and geological conditions combined with hundreds of years of agricultural activities have created a unique social-ecological system of plants, animals and people. I will write some more about it later (because I went back there in the summer), but for now I just want to share some of the beautiful and very rare flowers that I saw while biking through the pastures with Ellen and Kai.

Now, I’m not a botanist, so I might be wrong, but I think this is a elder-flowered orchid (Dactylorhiza latifolia).

Early-purple orchid (Orchis mascula), I think.

Probably the flower with the beautiful name Lady of the Snows (Pulsatilla vernalis).

This I know to be a cowslip (Primula veris).

And here is the yellow anemone (Anemone ranunculoides) and the very common, but oh, so lovely wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa).