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8 plants worth knowing

Denmark

Denmark is a lowland country made up of the Jutland peninsula and several hundred islands, where more than 60% of the land is farmland and only about 15% is forest. Left to nature, it would be dominated by beech woods, which are still the pride of eastern Denmark, while on the sandy soils of western Jutland vast heathlands and dunes once stretched. The mild maritime climate brings cool springs and summers and keeps the landscape green for most of the year.

Hover over a plant to see on the map where it grows.

where it grows

  1. European beech 1

    tree · National tree of Denmark

    European beech

    Fagus sylvatica

    “Der er et yndigt land” – the Danish anthem praises a country “with broad beeches by the salty shore”.
  2. Oxeye daisy 2

    flower · National flower of Denmark (marguerite)

    Oxeye daisy

    Leucanthemum vulgare

    The Danes chose the marguerite as their national flower – a nod to Queen Margrethe II, known in the family as “Daisy”.
  3. Heather 3

    dwarf shrub

    Heather

    Calluna vulgaris

    The purple heathlands that still covered a huge part of Jutland in the 19th century are the landscape of Danish legends and novels.
  4. Elder 4

    shrub

    Elder

    Sambucus nigra

    Elder blooms in every Danish hedgerow in June, and homemade elderflower cordial – hyldeblomstsaft – is the taste of a Danish summer.
  5. Barley 5

    crop

    Barley

    Hordeum vulgare

    One of Denmark’s key cereals – Danish barley is brewed into beer, and pure yeast cultures were first bred in the Carlsberg laboratory.
  6. Rye 6

    crop

    Rye

    Secale cereale

    Dark, dense rugbrød rye bread is a staple of the Danish diet and the base of smørrebrød – open sandwiches eaten for lunch.
  7. Pedunculate oak 7

    tree

    Pedunculate oak

    Quercus robur

    Kongeegen, the “King Oak” on Zealand, is estimated to be 1,500–2,000 years old and may be the oldest oak in northern Europe.
  8. Nordmann fir 8

    tree

    Nordmann fir

    Abies nordmanniana

    Every year Denmark sends millions of Christmas trees abroad – mostly Nordmann firs, prized for holding on to their needles.