Re: Which common plant would be able to grow on Mount everest?

Faheem,

I will try to answer your question based on what you have here, but without 
being more specific about a couple of points, it is difficult to come up 
with exact answers.  First I am assuming you are talking about the summit 
of Mt. Everest in contrast to the various base camps at different levels.  
Second, I am assuming you will be providing shelter for those plants.  
Third, realize that the longest summit on Everest was just over one day.  
Growing plants at the best will take weeks.  Finally, (I just have to ask) 
are you doing this for a specific reason or just to see if it can be done?  
Anyway you go, this is going to be very expensive!

Lets look at the conditions at the summit (29,039 ft/8851 m).  I had 
trouble coming up with specifics, so I am going to use generalities.
1)  It is cold up there!  
2)  Intense winds and frequent snow storms make it even colder
3)  At that altitude solar radiation is intense
4)  Atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide are about half of sea level

The best things to grow in this location would be plants in the mustard 
family (Brassicaceae) or some of the alpine shrubs.  They tend to be small, 
very hardy species.  

The trick is you will not be able to grow anything without shelter.  If you 
look at the ecosystems around Everest, even moss stops growing several 
thousand feet below the summit.  Ever have wind burn from being outside on 
a cold, windy day?  Without shelter, the cold wind will desicate (or remove 
the moisture from the leaves) in a very short time.  Additionally, I can't 
think of any plants that can survive in extended periods of below 0 C 
temperatures, let alone grow.  So you will need to provide a source of 
heat.  The shelter will also have to integrate some form of sunshade.  The 
intensity of solar radiation will do to the plants exactly what it will do 
to you -- sunburn!  Finally comes the problem of the atmosphere.  All of 
the work I am familiar with deals with enriching atmospheres, not reducing 
them.  I am not really sure how low of atmosphere plants can survive in.  
However, I am sure that plant growth will be slowed without the addition of 
gasses (which can be provided, to a certain extent, by a gas heating 
system).  

I realize that a lot of what I am writing is rather vague, but without 
knowing what specifically you have in mind, it is difficult to come up with 
an exact answer.  

Hope this helps!
Eric Biddinger