Specimen · N°013 · Ice
Glacianthus groenlandicus
Glacier Flower
On bare glacier ice, with no soil, a flower blooms.
FOUND 72.0°N 40.0°W · Glacier surface of Greenland · ✝ EX · Last seen 2003
On bare glacier ice, with no soil, a flower blooms.
A tiny cushion about 4–8 cm tall, its small dark-green leaves densely overlapping. The flowers are small and peach-white. With no soil, it roots using only the dark dust within the ice and its meltwater.
PLATE I
PLATE II
PLATE III
PLATE IV
PLATE V
PLATE VI
PLATE VIIPLATE VIII
On bare glacier ice, with no soil, a flower blooms.
Its roots grip only the dark dust gathered in the ice.
The blue-glowing glacier surface of Greenland.
For a few weeks in summer, in small holes melted in the ice, the Glacier Flower appears.
Small dark-green leaves overlap densely into a cushion.
Upon it, a small peach-white flower opens.
