Valle d'Aosta, Italy

Colle del Piccolo San Bernardo

1 August 2018

After the heat in Aosta the previous day, we aimed again for a more temperate environment. This time we went to the other San Bernardo pass, the lesser one. Arriving there, I immediately noticed patches of pink snow, the color of watermelon. This is caused by the presence of a green (!) alga, Chlamydonoas nivalis, which makes pinkish sunblockers. It's thriving in snowfields and is found all over the world. From the parking lot, I looped around a small lake; we then briefly visited the French side of the pass, to return when it started to rain rather early in the afternoon.

Oxytropis campestris

Pedicularis recutita

Soldanella alpina		Gagea liotardii

Luzula lutea

Rhododendron ferrugineum

Kalmia procumbens	Botrychium lunaria

Bellidiastrum michelii

Gnaphalium supinum		Vaccicinum uliginosum

Solorina crocea

Colias palaeno	Astragalus alpinus

Unidentified lichen

Cladonia pleurota

Arenaria biflora

Trifolium alpinum

Pedicularis kerneri		Senecio incanus

Salix reticulata

Salix reticulata with gall of Euura reticulatae		Salix serpillifolia

Gentiana spec.	Hypericum maculatum

Antennaria dioica

Parnassius phoebus

habitat	Tussilago farfara

Soldanella alpina, mine of Chromatomyia soldanellae

Cladonia pocillum

Gagea liotardii		Saxifraga oppositifolia

Dactylorhiza viridis	Prunella vulgaris	Homogyne alpina

G. bavarica	Gentiana cf. brachyphylla	G. nivalis

Lythria cruentaria	Noctuidae

On the French side

Pedicularis verticillata

Dactylorhiza spec.

Minuartia verna		Boloria spec.

Pyrgus spec.	Pyrausta aerealis

Chaerophyllum spec.