03/09/2025
While hiking on the border area between and I ran into this funnier looking a little beast of a plant, growing in a 5mm crack.!
Melablóm is the common name for Arabis alpina (also known as Alpine rock-cress).
Northern rock-cress usually refers to Arabis petraea (sometimes called Arabis nordmanniana in older texts).
Northern rock-cress (A. petraea) is rarer, less conspicuous, and more specialized to rocky, exposed habitats... Gravel slopes, scree, , rocky alpine ground , dry, rocky soils, cliffs, highland ridges. And in this case a crack in a boulder sitting in .
Distribution in Iceland is common in highlands and mountains. Much rarer, scattered locations in the north and east.
Icelandic name: Melablóm Norðurbergja
English name: Alpine rock-cress Northern rock-cress
Scientific name: Arabis alpina Arabis petraea.