Wartime neophytes in Tornio area – plants spread by the German troops

The Lapland War and traces of the German troops can still be seen in the landscape around us as wartime neophytes, also called polemo­chores. These plants can still be found near German campsites and structures, for example in the areas of Kalkkimaa and Kaakamo in Tornio.

Veterinary center Armee-Pferdepark 462 in Hirsikankaanmäki in Kaakamo 1946.
Geodata portal Paikkatietoikkuna, National Land Survey of Finland.

Ship- and trainloads of feed were transported for the animals belonging to the troops, such as donkeys and horses, and among these loads were seeds of plants from Central Europe. These seeds spread plants especially along railways, and for example in the area of the animal hospital in Kaaka­mon­kylä.

Even though most of these newcomers were crowded out by local plants, some of them prospered in their new environment.Some of the wartime neophytes may have been in the area earlier, but some have arrived spe­cific­ally with the loads of animal feed.

Of these neophytes, the sand rock-cress (Arabidopsis arenosa, earlier Cardaminopsis arenosa) is the most successful. These white flowers can be seen early in the start of summer, especially along railroad tracks. The sand rock-cress is also a ballast plant, which means that strains have arrived in Tornio and Oulu on ships, before the German animal feed loads.

A familiar plant, the meadow cranesbill or meadow geranium (Geranium pratense), albeit easy to mix up with the wood cranesbill or woodland geranium, is also a wartime neophyte that came to Northern Finland with the German military.