NEW PING. SPECIES IDENTIFIED!
Juerg Steiger (steiger@iae.unibe.ch)
Sun, 31 Mar 1996 22:17:12 +0100
Unbelievable: Recently I found a Ping. population growing on pure ice at
the margin of a glacier (not on the moraines but on the glacier itself) and
even within crevasses! The winter buds stage seems to last about 10 months
and even during the 2 month vegetation period the plant tolerates
temperatures much below the freezing point (as it is known also from
Ranunculus glacialis and other high-alpine species). Microscopical
investigation revealed glacier fleas as the main prey, but also ice-tails
(an alpine springtail species) and an alpine microlepidoptera species
(little 'snow roaches'). The leaves are 1.5-2 cm long and 0.8-1 cm wide and
conspicuously deep purple (facilitates temperature absorption) and the
flowers are very dark anthracite-purple, almost black (like 'black' tulips)
meaning they do not reflect the small amount of infrared radiation entering
the crevasses for may be an hour or two per day. The antheres are
absolutely transparent, making chromosome counting (meiosis) quite easy.
The xy specimens have an amorphophallus-shaped pistil while the xx enjoy a
very soft and expansible spur. I thought first to name it P. glacialis,
but this is to common, dozens of plants are 'glacialis'. P. gelida? Is
rarely used in botanical names. P. algida? Exists already. P. barbata, in
honour to the beard of the species _Janus Schlauerus_? Not distinct, many
have beards. P. rivadaviae? Inadequate, Fernando doesn't like cold
climates. P. aprilia?
Juerg
___________________________________________________
Juerg Steiger, Institut fuer Aus-, Weiter- und Fortbildung IAWF
University of Bern, Inselspital 37a, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland
Office: ++41 31 632 98 87, Fax: ++41 31 632 98 71