Above are the seven plants I chose with trial pieces on vellum offcuts.

The species I chose, with common names also in English and Norwegian

1. Rubus chamaemorus – cloudberry -multe
2. Vaccinium oxycoccus subsp. microcarpum – small cranberry – tranebær
3. Vaccinium uliginosum – bog bilberry – skinntryte
4. Empetrum nigrum subsp. hermaphroditum– Mountain crowberry – krekling
5. Vaccinium myrtillus – bilberry – blåbær
6. Vaccinium vitis-idaea – cowberry/lingonberry – tyttebær
7. Arctostaphylos uva-ursi – bearberry – melbær

I have listed the plants in the order according to the type of ground in which they grow – from boggy to sandy:

• The cloudberry and small cranberry often found intertwined together in the boggy moss of a swampy lake edge. 
• The bog bilberry is more of a bush and guards the very marshy plants perching on rocks in the marsh. 
• The Mountain crowberry grows in various areas from rocky outcrops at the edge of a swamp, to tiny examples without much soil, clinging to the rock on mountain tops.
• The bilberry and cowberry are generally in a similar habitat in damp woods and forests; the cowberry can be the main plant on an old wood ant heap often with bilberry and mountain crowberry.
• Bearberry grows in sandy areas on the edge of forests or creeping down over smooth rock.

The next stage of this blog goes into my working practice for this series. After which I will talk a little about each of the species and how I painted the final pictures. I will use the above order of plants as I would love others to learn more about them, where to find them and their uses. 

The next blog will be on 13 April 2023.