Er pílaslagið pálmi innflutt til Føroya í søguligari tíð? ella er tað upprunaligt her?

Abstract

This article seeks to answer the questions: what sort of willow was called pálmi (palm) in the Faroes and was it of native growth or imported. In the Middle Ages willows in Scandinavia were called »palms«, for they were used as decorations on Palm Sundays. / . C. Svabo1 (1782) and / . Landt'- (1800) are the first authors to write about the name pálmi, but even then it was already ancient in the Faroes. Svabo and Landt equate it with Salix caprea, though this can hardly be correct, for the plant growing in all the places they mention is Salix phylicifolia. Landt writes that the pálmi was brought to the Faroes from Norway about 1660; Svabo has no remarks o:i this point. Later authors in asserting that the pálmi vas introduced from Norway aremerely following Landt. The reports have it that one, Ole Larvesen, bailiff on Eysturoy, brought these willows from Norway, planting them at Strendur about 1660 and that his sister moved them to Øravík. Naturally the reports give no indication whether Salix caprea or Salix phylicifolia is meant. Svabo and Landt must be responsible for the confusion of names. Closerinvestigation, however, shows that the accounts alleging that the plant was introduced from Norway are contradictory and of little value.
 Finally, a few words about the two »palms«. S. caprea has been introduced in historical times and ia found only on cultivated land. It does not occur in peat. S. phylicifolia is native to the Faroes and is found widely troughout the contry in the following places: Eysturoy: Strendur, Toftavatn, Streymoy: Hvalvík, Tórshavn, Kvívík, Sandoy: Traðarhamar, Suðuroy: Øravík, Kunoy: Heima í Húsi, Vágar: Leitisvatn, Norðtriðingur, Miðvágur, Uttanhús. In addition it occurs in peat at Tórshavn 'm Vágsbotnur,Skálavík (leaves and stems), Hoyvík (stems). It may well be that many twigs hitherto thougt to be from Juniperus are really from Salix. It is most likely that pálmi orginally denoted the indigenous Salix phylicifolia.