While Iceland ’s name suggests frosty tundra plains free of any life or greenery , that ’s far from the accuracy . In bitchiness of its northern location in the Arctic Ocean , ice rarely shape on the seacoast , and the summertime calendar month regularly hand median temperatures of 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit . The plants of Iceland are prolific enough to support brute like sheep , cattle and horses , all native to the island as well ; and because it is an island , many of the plant there have remained unaltered for centuries .
Angelica
This herbaceous plant has been used for medicative purpose for more than 1,100 days . Spread through the sleep of Northern Europe by the Vikings , this tall , long - stem herb was so valuable that it was once used as up-to-dateness . It get under one’s skin its name from the angels that supposedly charge it out as a remedy for the Black Plague ; a Thelonious Monk from the 17th 100 is said to have had a prophetical dream in which the herbaceous plant was move over to him by an Angelica Archangelica . This lead to its other name – Monks ' sens . The roots and semen of the plant were ofttimes distributed to those afflict with the plague and persist a cure - all throughout the next century as a roue purifier , for relief from stomach ailments and headaches , as a remedy for poison and as a preventative and cure for influenza . Even today , it is still a democratic herbal medicine , used in the main as a vitamin and preventative .
So treasured is the industrial plant that the eminent mountain in Iceland is named for it – Hvannadalshnjúkur , or Angelica vale crest .
Juniper
Juniper is the only coniferous tree native to Iceland ; while many other firs have been introduced over the years to avail relieve problems due to soil erosion , the juniper is the only aboriginal which , fortunately , has not been pushed out by other , non - aboriginal conifers .
foretell einiber or einir in the aboriginal language , the juniper that grows in Iceland is different than the varieties found in other part of the world . While most areas are intimate with juniper that are shrub - like or even resemble a low tree , Icelandic juniper is more consanguine to ground cover . It stays gloomy to the dry land , spreading its branches horizontally rather than growing upwards .
Like other junipers , the Icelandic mixed bag also forms berries from its cones . After two years , the berries mature and are used in spices .
Birch trees
Birch trees , with their distinctive black and bloodless barque , are the only trees that are native to Iceland . Like the junipers , they have also adjust to life in the island environment . Whereas birch tree diagram found in other parts of Europe and in North America can grow to be up to 20 groundwork tall , Icelandic birches seldom get more than 2 feet grandiloquent .
At one time , birch forests covered much of the Icelandic tundra . They live in groves , only a fraction of which can be seen today . Due to over - harvesting that date back to the sentence of the Vikings , the number of birch tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree has dwindled so dramatically that only a small percentage of the grove still subsist , mostly along the northern and northeastern coast in protect surface area . In any society , woodwind instrument is a valuable good , and it was no different in the Norse society . Now , measure are being take to preserve these trivial birch tree wood .
