Posta Stamps Nr. 07

Stamps Faroe Islands No. 7 February 2011 ISSN 1603-0036 in Tórshavn Viðarlundin Photo: Anker Eli Petersen Europa 2011: Forests Flowers Two Art issues FO 708-709 Test proof Europa 2011: Forests Forest Growth on the Faroe Islands Of deciduous trees were Dwarf Willow, Forests - not exactly what one associates Woolly Willow and Arctic Willow quite wide- with the Faroe Islands - rather the contrary. spread, but Woolly Willow and the Arctic The North Atlantic archipelago is known for Willow are almost extinct because of the its treeless appearance. Climatic and geo- extensive sheep farming. graphic conditions, human influence and centuries of sheep-breeding have left the Birch has also grown wildly in the Faroe islands practically treeless. Islands since the last ice age, but rather dispersed - and disappeared after the Forests of the Past colonization. But it has not always been that way. If we go back to the volcanic period millions of We also know that hazel has grown in years ago, we note that there have been the Faroe Islands around year 1000, but periods of extensive forest growth. Charred whether it was a native Faroese tree or it wood residues, and prints from leaves was planted by the early settlers, is uncer- and needles are found in the coal strata in tain. The hazel tree disappeared again Suðuroy and Mykines. These finds indicate around the 13th century when the climate more favorable times on the mini-continent, became colder. which the current Faroe then were part of. Cypress, yew and juniper, giant sequoia and Plantations various kinds of deciduous trees - it’s hard to There has, through time, probably always imagine today. been a few trees at farms and in gardens on the Faroes, but not in any large scale. In After the Ice Age and the Settlement 1885 there was an attempt to replant trees When the Faroes were colonized, there were on a large scale outside Tórshavn, but this some natural woods on the islands. The failed. In 1903 they tried again and this time only indigenous conifer was juniper, which it worked. This plantation became what we is thought to have been quite common back today call “Viðarlundin” in Tórshavn - a rec- then. Today this wood only appears in its reational area in a valley, which today is cen- original form, on the island Svínoy, but we trally located near Tórshavn City. In 1969 have found roots of juniper in the peat layers the plantation was expanded and again on other islands as well. in 1979, and is now the biggest “forest” in the Faroes. Besides the plantation is also 2 "Viðarlundin" in Tórshavn Photo: Anker Eli Petersen a grove surrounding the former TB sanato- originally larger than it is today, 17,000 rium in Hoydalar, now high school, and on square metres were planted - but today only the field called Debesartrøð, where the Pro- approx. 7,800 square metres are covered vincial Library and the Faroese University is by trees, and the grove is thus the small- located. est plantation in the islands. One oddity of the plantation in Kunoy is that it is planted In December 1988 a violent hurricane rav- around a giant rock, which in ancient times aged the islands. Wind speeds were up over probably has fallen from the mountain 60 meters per second and the hurricane Urðarfjall above the plantation. The rock, caused extensive damage on houses and called Eggjarsteinur, can also be seen on the trees. A very large proportion of the trees in stamp. the Plantation in Tórshavn were destroyed in the hurricane winds. The subject of the 10 There have since been planted sev- DKK stamp depicts a cluster of these trees eral groves around the Faroes. In Vágur which are still lying on an incline. Extensive and Tvøroyri on Suðuroy - in the villages work has since been done to restore the Miðvágur and Sandavágur on Vágoy - in plantation, and today it appears as a very Mikladalur on Kalsoy - and also the beauti- beautiful area with young and old trees. ful park, “Uti í Grøv”, by the city Klaksvík on Borðoy. Besides in Tórshavn more plantations were planted in the early 20th century on the Anker Eli Petersen surrounding islands. In 1913, for example, Sources: the almost equally famous plantation in Um skógir í Føroyum. Article in Varðin 5 by Rasmus the small settlement Selatrað was planted, Rasmussen, 1925 Upprunavøkstur í Føroyum. Internet article by Jens- and the following year the plantation in the Kjeld Kjeldsen village Kunoy, which is depicted on the 12 Træplanting í Føroyum í eina øld. Andrias Højgaard, 1989 DKK stamp. The plantation in Kunoy was 3 FØROYAR FØROYAR 14 KR 20 KR Reyðlig bjargablóma Sortugras Silene dioica Geranium sylvaticum . Astrid Andreasen 2011 Astrid Andreasen . 2011 FO 710-711 Test proof Flowers Red campion, Silene dioica Red campion is an herbaceous perennial and The plant is widely known as red campion, can grow to just over a metre in height. It while its botanical name is Silene dioica. Red flowers in July. The vertical stalks grow from campion is a member of the carnation fam- a slender, creeping stock. The plant has two ily, of the genus Silene. In addition to the kinds of hairy leaves. The upper leaves are red campion, its relative the moss campion pointed and without stalks while the lower (Silene acaulis) grows on the Faroe Islands. leaves have long, winged stalks and are oval- The Faroese name bjargablóma (moun- shaped. The red and occasionally white pet- tain flower) is given to the flower because als are large and the flower has a central ring it is a mountain-dwelling wildflower that of flaps. Red campion is a dioecious species, grows in attractive dense cushions with pink with separate male and female plants. The and occasionally white flowers. Only in the male plant has a 10-veined calyx and the Faroe Islands is the word ‘mountain’ linked female plant has a 20-veined calyx. The fruit to the plant’s name, so the Faroese name is an ovoid capsule that opens up at the apex is accepted as being original. Red campion with ten teeth, which curve back. grows in steep rocky slopes and in inacces- sible lower-mountain areas. Red campion is a Wood Cranesbill, Geranium sylvaticum rare plant. It is not found on any of the smaller The plant is widely known as Wood islands or on Sandoy or Eysturoy. It is consid- Cranesbill, its Faroese name “litingarsortu- ered to be an indigenous Faroese plant, i.e. it græs” (colour black grass) and its botanical was brought to the islands by the wind, ocean name is Geranium sylvaticum. It is the only currents or birds and not by human activity. species of Cransebill found on the Faroe 4 Red campion Photos: Maud á Geilini Photo: Marita Gulklett Islands. Its Faroese name refers to the fact has a vertical stalk with long hairs at the top that the plant is used to make natural black and short hairs at the bottom. The leaves dye. The Icelandic name also refers to the are very large and divided into fine leaflets. plant’s natural black dye. The name of the The flowers are typically blue and sometimes plant in other countries derives from the spe- red. Fully-grown, the flowers are 10–18 mm cial five-sectioned stalk, which looks like the in diameter and grow in pairs. In general, head and beak of a crane when the petals the plant is dioecious. It has five blue or red have fallen off. Hence its common Danish petals, and the centre of the flower is light, name “Storkenæb” (storksbill). Similar plants almost white. The flower and seed pod is in the same genus are commonly called divided into five single fruits. cranesbills and heron’s bill. Storksbill grows on the Faroe Islands. It is considered to Anna Maria Fosaa be an indigenous Faroese plant, i.e. it was brought to the islands by the wind, ocean currents or birds and not by human activity. It is not found on the smallest islands and is rarely found on Suðuroy or Sandoy but is common on Streymoy and Eysturoy. It grows on low-lying land and is never found grow- ing on heights greater than 300 metres. It is a perennial plant that flowers in June and July. It can grow up to 50 cm in height and 5 FO 712-713 Test proof Art: Bergithe Johannessen – watercolour painter from Vestmanna Exhibition Building in Copenhagen in 1995; Faroese Art at Iceland’s Museum of Art, Bergithe Christine Johannessen (1905-95) Listasavn Íslands in 1961 and Faroese Art was the first Faroese to be admitted to at the Bergen Art Association in 1970. The the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Faroe Islands Museum of Art has ten of her Copenhagen. Born in Vestmanna, she was watercolours in its collection. the daughter of Madgalena and Niels Skaale Johannessen, merchant and grocer. Bergithe Bergithe Johannessen primarily painted land- Johannessen was 18 years old when she trav- scapes; colourist watercolours featuring land, elled to London to study painting. She went sea and skies. Sometimes the paintings have to the Sidscup School of Art from 1923 until houses and sheep, but never people. 1925 and specialised in watercolour painting. She then moved to Copenhagen, where “Skerjut strond” (“Glowing beach”) is a water- she attended the School of Painting at Royal colour painted in 1964. A green summer Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1925 landscape unfolds in the foreground. In the until 1931.

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