Turrantha hapaxanthaCentury-spire Bloom

In a dried pressed specimen, Chronopulvinus antisanae appears to be only a small cushion plant. The faint hardened rings that rise on its surface only during frosty nights disappear after thawing and pressing, while the repair marks in the center remain merely as pale brown stains. This fragile diagnostic character may explain why older collections were filed as bryophytes or as known alpine cushion plants.

For much of the year no flowers are visible. Along the rim of a cushion, repeated freezing and thawing open shallow cracks, and pea-sized fragments fall into the wet peat and root. Pieces carried by morning meltwater or narrow wetland channels settle in depressions of the same water level and form new hemispheres. Such renewal without dependence on pollinators would allow colonies to persist in a foggy, frost-prone páramo.

The plant is not spread across the grassland, but is confined to shallow hollows where young volcanic ash mixes with peat. The ash holds water in fine pores yet does not drain it as quickly as the gravelly slopes. At night only the surface freezes thinly; by day it loosens under fog and residual ground warmth. This intermediate bed of drainage and retention keeps the shallow roots from drying while giving the outer cushion its nightly freezing rhythm.