10 years ago I wrote about the fascinating cultural historical story of bistort or ormerot here in Norway (Persicaria bistorta), a plant that apparently sustained Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his crew through an Arctic winter after becoming the first to sail through the North West passage. It was published in the magazine of the Norwegian Useful Plants Society, Sopp og Nyttevekster. A shortened and updated version of this article can be found in my book Around the World in 80 plants. Here’s the original Norwegian article!