Twinflower

The twinflower (sometimes written twin flower, Linnaea borealis) is a woodland shrub. Its name is due to the fact that each stalk has two flowers. It is one of few species to be named after Carolus Linnaeus and is said to have been his favourite flower. Indeed he took the flower as his own personal symbol when he was raised to the Swedish nobility in 1757. Of it, Linnaeus said "Linnaea is a plant of Lapland, lowly, insignificant, disregarded, flowering but for a brief time - from Linnaeus, who resembles it".

It is monotypic in its genus and there are three recognised subspecies:

• Linnaea borealis subsp. borealis - Europe
• Linnaea borealis subsp. americana - North America
• Linnaea borealis subsp. longiflora - Asia

Distribution

The flower is found in moist cool temperate to subarctic woodlands in northern North America, northern Asia, and northern Europe.

In Great Britain, the twinflower grows in mainly open pine woodlands in Scotland and northernmost England. The flower is listed as "nationally scarce". It is found in about 50 sites around the country, with most situated in the woods around the Cairngorms; the southernmost locations are four sites in Northumberland and one in County Durham. The sparseness of the sites is responsible for the continued decline of the flower in the country.

The flower is the provincial emblem of Småland in Sweden, Linnaeus' home province.

References

• The Linnaeus Link Project in the spring 2005 edition of Nature First, the magazine for Natural History Museum members.
• Species and habitat consevation from Plantlife.org.uk [1]