Mr. Hemulen

Mr. Hemulen (or Hemulen) is a former stamp collector turned botanist and a close friend to the Moomin family. He is a member of the hemulen species. He lives in Moominvalley, alone, in a dome-like house with a greenhouse surrounded by a wide variety of plants. Throughout the series, he is often seen analysing the flora with his magnifying glass.

Appearance
Mr. Hemulen is a hemulen with the general characteristics expected of the species; light gray skin/fur coloring, a long protruding snout, hair and a generally humanoid body with no tail or ears. Although his appearence slightly differs from what hemulens usually look like, such as the mouth placement and hair being more similar to that of a Snork or Moomin. He wears a purple dress given to him by his aunt (as said in the Comet in Moominland) and a pair of dark brown shoes.

Personality and traits
Mr. Hemulen is an eccentric old man who cares about his friends and is eager to help them when asked. He seems to enjoy hanging out with the moomin family and usually speaks with Moominpappa in particular, usually over a cup of tea. Mr. Hemulen also seems to enjoy tagging along with the moomin family's adventures, even asking them if he could join on a boat trip, though this enthusiasm and closeness with the family would work to his detriment such as getting chased up a pole by a hoard of hattifatteners or getting his house painted by the children which causes him insomnia. Apart from being an avid collector of stamps and flowers, Mr. Hemulen has also shown a talent for firework making and has taken up bird watching after running out of plants to analyze.

History
Mr. Hemulen first appears in the book Comet in Moominland. He doesn't understand the fuss everyone is having or that there is a world-destroying comet headed straight toward the earth, only ever caring about the condition of his stamps. In Finn Family Moomin, the Hemulen completes his stamp collection and has a crisis about what to do with his life after that. After a series of suggestions by Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden, Hemulen rejects their help and leaves, only to take up botanising thanks to Snork.

Trivia
•Mr. Hemulen has discovered atleast two new flower species throughout the 90s series, an orchid that'll be called Hemulensus or Hemulaphormus which is named after him (according to Moominpappa) which he discovered off-screen and a glowing flower that only blooms at nighttime which he discovers by stumbling into a field of them during a night of insomnia

•Mr. Hemulen is shown to own and carry a pocket knife (though based on the chain loop and red coloring it could be a swiss army knife)

•Mr. Hemulen's first specimen in his collection in the books is a very small spring onion while in the animated series his first specimen is a red Sweet-Brier