About the flora on the main campus

You can go from the links at the bottom of this page to see the trees, bushes and shrubs on the main campus. The beds are from various years and evince differing interpretations of what the greenery around a public building should be like.

In built environment greenery protects the buildings from wind and cold in winter and from heat in summer. Greenery also serves to bind the dust and muffle noise.  Greenery not only illustrates seasonal variation by also evinces temporal variation when there are new and old trees side by side.

In built environment those plants should be selected which will flourish there. The greenery planted in parks is not haphazard. Greenery in the work environment makes things pleasanter. It has also been claimed that a view from the window of greenery is beneficial to people's decision-making.

Eveliina Asikainen: What grows wild on campus?

The University main campus is partly old parkland, partly vacant land that has gone through many stages. Planting has taken place at many different times, which is apparent in the variety of trees and bushes. In addition to cultivated plants there are also wild varieties - wicken grass and various forest and meadow plants. This is not an exhaustive account of the plants growing naturally on campus, but rather an invitation to people to open their eyes to the natural diversity around us.

Many species can be found in what appears to be a normal lawn. There are at least two different types of hay with greater plantain and possibly bistort between them. Sometimes the white clover belonging to the hayseeds really runs wild and becomes a problem, but in July 2008 at least it covered the entire amphitheatre very nicely.  Mouse-ear hawkweed flourishes on the hottest places and on easily worn places. In dry summers especially it serves to fill in for grass that would otherwise be worn and blooms light yellow in early summer.

The roof garden, which is not an easy place to keep in shape, is home to many of the dry meadow plants on campus. Some of these are small and difficult to recognise. On the other hand one might get to taste a wild strawberry among the wild pansies and, a little later, wild raspberries from the edges of the garden.

In shady places there are those species which flourish on the fringes of forests and damper meadows. For example goldenrod and goutweed grow well at the top end of the Viinikankatu embankment. In the same place grow diverse other wild trees: Linden and maple renew themselves among the dwarf pines.

As I see it, some of these wild-growing trees might be allowed to grow tall.

Of course there are also animals on campus. One might arrange a competition for spotting the different species of birds from the windows. Other animals are less easy to spot, but damage to the planting is proof that hares and moles have been at work.

Eveliina Asikainen
Biologist, postgraduate in environmental policy researching urban nature

Presenting the flora

The links above will give you a map of the campus from which you can use the red info signs to see what flora can be found at those spots. There are also stories about certain trees and plantings. The presentation of the flora is not exhaustive, but describes most of the species growing on the University main campus.

List of the flora (pdf)

Photos: Annakaisa Järvelä and Camilla Rosengren

Texts: Saana Raatikainen and Annakaisa Järvelä

The assistance of Eveliina Asikainen, biologist, Camilla Rosengren, landscape gardener, Antti Katajamäki, architect and many members of the University community is gratefully acknowledged.

The information botanical information is largely from Eveliina Asikainen, biologist, and from Camilla Rosengren, landscape gardener.  Information was moreover gathered from the sources in this file (pdf, in Finnish).

The support of Senaatti Kiinteistöt for preparing the presentation is gratefully acknowledged.