508 



ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1931 



of the ice, water trickles down to the rootlets and arouses growth 

 in the sleeping plant. Internal combustion ensues within the floral 



Figure 1. — The autumn leaves of Suldanella alpina — the plant that 

 melts ice and snow 



tissues. The resulting heat melts the ice about the uprising flower 

 buds, and the stem pushes its way upward. More water flows to 

 the roots; increased activity is induced, and finally, after several 



setbacks or " regelations " — as Tyn- 

 dall calls them — the plant, espe- 

 cially if its race is run along the 

 margin of the ice sheet, soon tunnels 

 a passage to the air and sunshine. 



So long as the heat given oti' 

 from the growing stem and buds 

 is sufficient to prevent actual solid 

 freezing of the parts, tlie soldanella 

 is indifferent to the surrounding 

 ice-cold temperature; it under- 

 goes the usual transformations, 

 is fertilized by early bees, and 

 forms many hundreds of wonder- 

 ful blue flower groups that crowd 

 the margins of the neve, some of 

 which look for all the world as 

 if they were beds of bloom actually 

 rooted in and growing out of a 

 thick layer of transparent ice. 

 If one now examines the leaves of the plant it will be noticed 

 that they are no longer thick and fleshy, but are thin and papery; 



FiouitB 2. — Flower-stalk of soldanella 



melting a passage to the surface of 



an Alpine Ice sheet. (After Grant 

 Allen.) 



