Antarctic flora are a distinct community of vascular plants which evolved millions of years ago on the supercontinent of Gondwana. Presently, species of Antarctica flora reside on several now separated areas of the Southern Hemisphere, including southern South America, southernmost Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and New Caledonia. Joseph Dalton Hooker was the first to notice similarities in the flora and speculated that Antarctica had served as either a source or a transitional point, and that land masses now separated might formerly have been adjacent.
King George Island is the largest of the South Shetland Islands, lying 120 km off the coast of Antarctica in the Southern Ocean. The island was named after King George III.
Mount Melbourne is a 2,733-metre-high (8,967 ft) ice-covered stratovolcano in Victoria Land, Antarctica, between Wood Bay and Terra Nova Bay. It is an elongated mountain with a summit caldera filled with ice with numerous parasitic vents; a volcanic field surrounds the edifice. Mount Melbourne has a volume of about 180 cubic kilometres (43 cu mi) and consists of tephra deposits and lava flows; tephra deposits are also found encased within ice and have been used to date the last eruption of Mount Melbourne to 1892 ± 30 years. The volcano is fumarolically active.
East Antarctica, also called Greater Antarctica, constitutes the majority (two-thirds) of the Antarctic continent, lying primarily in the Eastern Hemisphere south of the Indian Ocean, and separated from West Antarctica by the Transantarctic Mountains. It is generally greater in elevation than West Antarctica, and includes the Gamburtsev Mountain Range in the center. The geographic South Pole is located within East Antarctica.
Meesia uliginosa, the broad-nerved hump-moss, is a rare moss of the Western U.S. It occurs all around the northern hemisphere in higher latitudes, and in some places is not as rare as in the Western U.S.
Fischer Nunatak is a nunatak, 750 metres (2,460 ft) high, standing 2 nautical miles (4 km) south of Mount Henderson in the northeast part of the Framnes Mountains, Mac. Robertson Land, Antarctica.
Mount Henderson is a mountain in the Framnes Mountains of Mac. Robertson Land in the Antarctic. It is southeast of Holme Bay and northeast of the Masson Range.
The South Masson Range is the southernmost of the three parts into which the Masson Range of the Framnes Mountains, Anatarctica is divided. It rises to 1,070 metres (3,510 ft) and extending 2 miles (3.2 km) in a northeast-southwest arc.
Ryszard Ochyra is a Polish bryologist. He has focused on moss systematics of the Southern Hemisphere, specifically in the families Amblystegiaceae, Dicranaceae, Grimmiaceae, and Seligeriaceae. Throughout his career, he has described 48 species of moss considered new to science.
Forbes Glacier is a glacier entering the west part of Holme Bay on Mawson Coast, to the north of the Casey Range, in the Framnes Mountains of Antarctica.
Racomitrium lanuginosum is a widespread species of moss found in montane and arctic tundra, the genus Racomitrium is found across the Northern and Southern hemispheres., however Racomitrium lanuginosum is only found in the Northern hemisphere. It grows as large mats on exposed rock and in boulder scree, particularly on acidic rocks. Its leaves have a characteristically decurrent and toothed hair-point, which gives rise to its regional common names woolly fringemoss, hoary rock-moss and woolly moss.
Grimmiaceae is a family of mosses in the order Grimmiales.
Splachnales is an order of Bryophyta or leafy mosses. Along with Orthotrichales, Hedwigiales, and Bryales, it forms the superorder Bryananae.
Mount Rittmann is a volcano in Antarctica. Discovered in 1988–1989 by an Italian expedition, it was named after the volcanologist Alfred Rittmann (1893–1980). It features a 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) or 8 by 5 kilometres wide caldera which crops out from underneath the Aviator Glacier. The volcano was active during the Pliocene and into the Holocene, including large explosive eruptions; a major eruption occurred in 1254 CE and deposited tephra over much of Antarctica. Currently, the volcano is classified as dormant.
Ptychostomum pseudotriquetrum, commonly known as marsh bryum, is a species of moss belonging to the family Bryaceae. It is distinguished by its strongly decurrent leaves that extend down the stem, central leaf stalks which may extend slightly beyond the tip of the leaf, dioicy, and long stems densely matted with rhizoids. It is found worldwide, excluding the tropics.
Coscinodon is a genus of mosses belonging to the family Grimmiaceae.
Gemmabryum is a genus of moss in the family Bryaceae. It was separated from the genera Bryum and Brachymenium in 2005. It has been argued that the correct name for the genus is Osculatia.
Denis Christopher Lindsay is a British botanist who made contributions to the field of Antarctic lichenology as part of the British Antarctic Survey. He was among the first professional botanists to perform floristic surveys on several Antarctic islands. His seminal work, The Macrolichens of South Georgia, was one of only three treatments of Antarctic lichens published before the 21st-century.
