Icelandic medieval monastic sites:
Icelandic plant-names and
plants in a historical context
pre Linnaean
historical / early
botanical
Pinax theatri
botanici
1623/1671
post-Linnaean
Species plantarum
1753
scientific
horticultural
botanical
vernacular
folk-botanical
equivalents
edible greens
Malva sp.
kál
kaal
kail
kål
Rumex sp.
Brassica sp.
Leymus arenarius, melgresi
sandhafrar
villihveiti
villikorn
blaðka
melstöng
Leymus
arenarius
melgresi
sumtag
sumtagsnál
sandgras
Angelica archangelica, fjallhvönn
hvannarót
brjóstætihvönn
hvönn
hvannjóli
graðhvönn Angelica
archangelica
englajurt
englarót
erkikvönn
geitla
Argentina anserina, tágamura
Medieval names:
akrmura, mora, mura, pastinaca
• Collected – Leymus arenarius
• Favoured but growing wild – Argentina
anserina
• Cultivated – Angelica archangelica
• Imported –
Viðey, 2009
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Allium
S
Argentina anserina Artemisia
Bistorta vivipara
Borago officinalis
S
Brassica sp.
S
Malus sylvestris
S
Menyanthes trifoliataMyrica gale
Plantago major
S
Sanguisorba off.
Urtica sp.
S
Valeriana officinalis -
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
Allium oleraceum, villilaukr in Bær, 2010
• Bær 1030-1050? Monastery? Missionary bishop
Rúðólfur: school, garden etc. ???
• Laukaflatir – (old) name of a small field where
the laukr is still growing
• The villilaukr is reported growing in Bær by Björn
Halldórsson in Grasnýtjar 1783
Medieval laws: laukagarðr 13th century??
The bishop of Hólar died in the laukagarðr at
Hólar in 1457
Hólar 2009
• Bær 1030-1050? Monastery? Missionary bishop
Rúðólfur: school, garden etc. ???
• Laukaflatir – (old) name of a small field where the laukr
is still growing
• The villilaukr is reported growing in Bær by Björn
Halldórsson in Grasnýtjar 1783
• Medieval laws: laukagarðr 13th century (Norwegian
influence?)
• The bishop of Hólar died in the laukagarðr at Hólar in
1457
• Skáney – (close to Bær) German ”surgeon” Lazarus
Mattheusson 1527-1570
• Tautra monastery in Norway (1207- ) the Allium
oleraceum is growing there today