Snow roots: Where are they and what are they for?

Snow roots are a very special type of roots that counteract geotropism to grow upward into long-lasting snow fields. They develop under snow at near 0ºC, a phenomenon that had previously only been reported from plant shoots (Körner et al. 2019). Up to now, this intriguing and spectacular looking plant structure has been discovered and studied in only a single species, i.e. the vernal forb, Corydalis conorhiza Ledeb. (poppy family, Papaveraceae) at an elevation of almost 3 km in the mountains of the northern Caucasus, Russia by Onipchenko et al. (2009a, 2014), who reported results from a snow-field labeling experiment with the natural nitrogen (N) isotope 15 N, accompanied with anatomical and structural root trait measurements.