At 19:31 31/03/1996 -0800, you wrote:
>
>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
>
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*****************************
Gilles LARDY
E_mail : lardyg7@cti.ecp.fr