Nightdew Ring · Ventiflora evanida

A low perennial 8–14 cm tall. It presses to the rock to escape the wind, spreading slender silver-grey leaves in a radial rosette. The short, reddish-brown stem swells its basal water-storing tissue only after rain. The flowers are pale blue-grey saucers with a translucent calyx. It blooms for a single night; before dawn the calyx and corolla lose moisture and shrink to a thin film, so by morning only a small damp ring remains in the hollow of the rock.

Feature Film

Vertical, as filmed / tap to play

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The flower vanishes with the dawn.

This footage was made vertical (9:16) and is also published on social media. The archive keeps it in its original ratio.

9:16 VERTICALFULL EDITSOUND ON

Specimen Plates

8 plates · click to play

PLATE I

PLATE II

PLATE III

PLATE IV

PLATE V

PLATE VI

PLATE VII

PLATE VIII

Field Note

Habitat

Wind-swept grassland of southern Patagonia. At the start of the dry season it appears only on basalt ledges that stay damp after rain, a little apart from old footpaths.

Local name

Ring of the Waiting Wind

Folklore

Locally it is held to appear only before the season of steady dry westerlies. People heading into the mountains long read the damp ring it leaves on the rock to know that water on the ledges had begun to recede, and judged by it when to move on.

Locator

Coordinates

50.5°S 73.0°W

Wind-swept grassland of southern Patagonia

Record

Narration

0:00 / --:--

By morning, only a ring remains.

That is the only proof it bloomed.

The windswept grassland of southern Patagonia.

Just before the dry season, on rain-soaked ledges, the Nightdew Ring shows itself for a single night.

Lower than a palm, it spreads silver-grey leaves flat to the ground.

After rain, a small water-storing tissue at its base swells, and at night it opens a pale blue-grey flower.

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Classification

Classification & specimen data

Scientific name

Ventiflora evanida A. Reinholt, 1972

Taxonomy

Plantae › Angiosperms › Dicotyledons › Ventiflorales › Ventifloraceae › Ventiflora › evanida

Voucher

AVF-001 · Holotype
Archive of Vanished Flora (AVF)

Conservation

✝ EX — Extinct Last seen 1975

Collector

Y. Aoki
1971-02-08

Synonym

Ventiopsis evanida L. Fontaine, 1969

Protologue (Latin)

Planta humilis, caule brevissimo, petalis albidis nitentibus, in loco aperto crescens. Typus: Wind-swept grassland of southern Patagonia. Species iam extincta.

Discovered / Described

1971 / 1972

Height

8〜14cm

Life form

Perennial herb

Phyllotaxy

Alternate

Chromosome

2n = 16

Flowering

A few hours around dawn