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When we went up Rigi from Arth-Goldhau in late May my wife spent most of the trip trying to spot the different spring flowers.
The attached photos are of some of the flowers we spotted up top around Rigi Kulm.
At the station we picked up a brochure for the Rigi Floral Trail (http://www.rigi.ch/en/Media/t ours/Rigi-floral-trail). It shows 56 different varieties of flowering plant. We’ve used that to try to identify the ones of which we got photos. How did we do?
This might also be of interest to plant fanciers prorigi.ch/?Summary_in_English
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And here are a few we couldn’t identify . . . . any suggestions?
Hi Rockoyster,
Thanks for sharing; this shows how much there’s to see during a few hours of walking. I’m not an expert at all. Having said that, the second unknown might be a variety of the Alpine Gentian, the Spring Gentian perhaps.
Hi Rockoyster
The yellow unknown in the first picture I would say is a primrose. I agree with Arno about the blue one – it is a gentian of some kind – I find it hard to tell the difference between a spring gentian and a Bavarian gentian and a field gentian! They all look so similar! The yellow one in that picture may be a vetch of some kind – can’t see the leaf to confirm that but that’s what I’d guess.
I have several books about wild flowers and spend ages when I get home trying to identify what I have taken pictures of! I know the names of the most common ones but there are always a few that leave me a bit baffled!
Maggie
Thanks Maggie and Arno for filling in the gaps (although I still need to do some work translating the german names into something more recognisable).
Never heard of a vetch before. Is that the same as the Gewöhnlicher Wundklee?
I think a Spring Gentian is correct comparing it to other googled images. The trumpet-like Blue Gentian (Gentiana acaulis) is popular in Australia (apparently).
Hi Rockoyster
Grey day here in UK – nothing on my agenda, nowhere to be etc., so decided it was time I got all my reference books out and tried to put some more familiar-sounding names to your flower photos! Mixed results ensued – some I already knew, a few I thought I did but didn’t match your German label – some very elusive! I have a rather handsome book I bought myself in Germany one time which is not just flowers, but all nature stuff – more of that later – an alpine flower book I bought in Alpine Garden on Schynige Platte and an English Alpine book which I got in a second-hand book shop and cost a lot as it was out of print so hard to come by! I also resorted to using trusty German Dictionary when I couldn’t find any other reference!
So here goes with what I think (not know!!!).
Gewöhnlicher_Wundklee-1 pretty sure about this one! Latin name – Anthyllis vulneraria – pea family – common kidney vetch. (Gewöhnlicher_ means common)
Gebräuchlicher_Arznei-Baldrian-1 this one proved tricky – couldn’t find in any of the flower books so used dictionary to translate into English and it came out as common (or usual) medicinal valerian.
Gewöhnliches_Sonnenröschen-1 – knew this one – helianthemum nummelarium which is a rock-rose.
Schwalbenwurz-Enzian-1 knew this as well– it’s usually called trumpet gentian – but interestingly Schwalben means swallow and wurz means root – Enzian is gentian.
Quirlblättriges_Läusekraut-1. Latin name – pedicularis verticillata – whorled lousewort.
Gewöhnlicher_Hornklee-1. – knew this one as well! Latin name – Lotus corniculatus – common bird’s foot trefoil (often known as bacon ‘n eggs because often has red tips to it.)
Bachbungen-Ehrenpreis-1. Latin name – veronica baccabunga or chemaedrys. recognised this as a speedwell.
Rote_Waldnelke-1 – bit of a problem here as I was sure it was a primula or primrose but name you have put to it means a red forest carnation/clove – leaves are wrong for dianthus / carnation family!
Pretty sure the yellow unnamed is also a primrose and the blue unknown is a Bavarian gentian as a field gentian has 4 petals not five. the little yellow one in that photo is also a common kidney vetch like your first picture.
Hope all this doesn’t confuse rather than help!
That rather splendid nature book I mentioned earlier also threw light for me on a bird I had been following about near our apartment and eventually managed to get pictures of – see attached – and it was called a Hausrotschwanz – phoenicurus ochrurus or put simply a house red-tail! Apparently common around villages! As I had been referring to it as a red-tailed bird I was closer than I knew!
Best wishes
Maggie
Hi Maggie,
WOW – you really got stuck into the research. Very interesting results. Glad the challenge helped you pass a grey day. 😁
The house red tail is well named.
Hi Rockoyster
As I said – hope the info doesn’t confuse!
I had seen that little bird around in Gimmelwald but couldn’t get close enough for a decent picture so was quite delighted when one decided to fly into our verandah area at the apartment and sit there obligingly with tail spread out! Thought I had a photo of something quite rare but according to my book they are common around villages!! Still, I think he’s a handsome little thing and at least he posed for me!
Maggie
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