Coullemelle

Coullemelle () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.

==Geography== Coullemelle is situated on the D109 and D188 crossroads, some south of Amiens. It is located close to the Paris meridian at the edge of the Amiens plateau and of the Beauvaisis. Its territory, 954 hectares wide, is in contact with the lands of the neighboring villages of Grivesnes, Cantigny, Villers-Tournelle, Rocquencourt, Quiry-le-Sec and Esclainvillers. Its soil dates from the Tertiary. Under a layer of silt, one finds argillaceous chalk and flints. The plateau slopes gently to the north-east from 160 meters at a place called Le Crocq down to 120 meters in the Coullemelle and Grivesnes valleys. Located 80 kilometers from the sea, the village benefits from a temperate and healthy climate. At the North exit of the Coullemelle wood lies a larris, that is a zone of lawn and poor lands, most interesting for geologists and botanists. The dry valleys of Simie, Langueron, mont Foucart and Coullemelle, oriented N.E.-S.W., ties cuts through the chalky plateau that descends into the dry ravine occupied by trees but also by calcicole lawns. One may find there lady orchids, fragrant orchids, red epacris, superb violet anemone that are exceptional in France, as well as very rare cruciate anemones. The larris, unsuited to culture and which served as a pasture for sheep, are unfortunately more and more overgrown with underbrush.