From 2001, Bioforsk (the Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research, now NIBIO) department in Kise, Hedmark started collecting plant material of roseroot (Rhodiola rosea) from all over Norway. A field collection of some 97 clones resulted at Kise and analyses of the adaptogen components were reported by Steinar Dragland and Ruth Mordal in 2006. It was found that levels of the active chemicals was higher in the populations in Northern Norway than in the south and a selection was made called “Kise Mix” used to establish plants in different places around the country.
Ref: Dragland and Mordal, 2006. Variasjoner i rosenrot (Rhodiola rosea) fra 97 steder i Norge. Bioforsk Tema Nr. 47. (see http://www.bioforsk.no/ikbViewer/Content/26262/t_1_47_dragland.pdf)
I visited one of the growers Rigmor Solberg in Sortland, Northern Norway in 2009 (pictures below).
Sadly, the market collapsed due to cheap Russian imports and this field was never harvested.
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Dear Stephen ,
I enjoyed your article and am very keen to see if I can contact Rigmor Solberg in Sortland, who you mentioned in this piece. I will be up in the north of Norway at the beginning of November trying to source some one exactly like him !
Please would you be kind enough to give me his email address or some kind of contact details so I can introduce myself.
I hope all is well with you and look forward to hearing from you
Kind regards
Christopher Dale
http://www.totalhealthcompany.co.uk
Sorry, it was several years ago and I would imagine the field hadn’t been maintained this long. I don’t have any contact with her now. Sorry!