Most southerly plant
- Who
- Unknown
- What
- 86/09 ranked #1
- When
- 01 January 0001
The southernmost plants are lichens resembling Rhinodina frigida which have been found in Moraine Canyon at Lat. 86ø09'S, Long. 157ø30'W in 1971 and in the Horlick Mountain area of Antarctica at Lat. 86ø09'S, Long. 131ø14'W in 1965.
The southernmost recorded flowering plant was the Antarctic hair grass (Deschampsia antarctica) found in Lat. 68ø21'S on Refuge Island, Antarctica on 11 March 1981. Moraine Canyon is near Mount Heekin on Antarctica.
Lichens grow prolifically in Antarctica, mainly because they have a high tolerance to drought and cold, and also because they can flourish where there is little or no competition from other species or plants and flowering plants.
The southernmost recorded flowering plant was the Antarctic hair grass (Deschampsia antarctica) found in Lat. 68ø21'S on Refuge Island, Antarctica on 11 March 1981. Moraine Canyon is near Mount Heekin on Antarctica.
Lichens grow prolifically in Antarctica, mainly because they have a high tolerance to drought and cold, and also because they can flourish where there is little or no competition from other species or plants and flowering plants.
Please note, according to our plant consultant:strictly speaking, lichens are not plants, rather they are a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and an alga and so some people don’t count them as plants.