From jungles to deserts, prairies to mountains, plants have adapted to some of the most extreme environments on the planet.
Now that we were before Zodanga the task of obtaining entry to the city devolved upon me, and directing Tars Tarkas to hold his forces in two divisions out of earshot of the city, with each division opposite a large gateway, I took twenty dismounted warriors and approached one of the small gates that pierced the walls at short intervals. These gates have no regular guard, but are covered by sentries, who patrol the avenue that encircles the city just within the walls as our metropolitan police patrol their beats.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An example of snow algae
Snow algae are a group of freshwater micro-algae which grow in the alpine and polar regions of the earth.These algae have been observed to come in a variety of colors associated with both the individual species, stage of life or topography/geograph variation is associated with both albedo differences of the snowy habitat and the presence of micro-invertebrates. Snow algae play a critical role in the trophic organization as primary producers who in turn are consumed primarily by tardigrades and rotifers. Snow algae have also been found to travel great distances being carried by winds.
Diatoms are photosynthesising algae, they have a siliceous skeleton (frustule) and are found in almost every aquatic environment including fresh and marine waters, soils, in fact almost anywhere moist.
Many of the plants thriving in our beautiful Rock Garden have adapted to survive in rocky, isolated conditions on mountain tops.
A star plant on the rock garden is Scilla madeirensis; the largest and most showy of all the hyacinths.
In the wild, it can only be found on the volcanic rocks of Madeira. At Kew, it grows very well in a pot and thrives in our Alpine House.
Only about 1,000 individuals exist in their natural habitat, but the populations are thought to be stable and not under threat.
