Although the tundra is a cold barren place, it still is teeming with plant life. It has many different types of vegetation such as Arctic Moss, Arctic Willow, Bearberry, and Caribou Moss.
Arctic moss is one of the many types of vegetation in the tundra. This particular type of moss is usually found at the bottom of arctic lake beds. They have rhizoids which are tiny rootlets instead of roots. This helps the moss get the nutrients it needs because most of the soil with scraps of nutrients is very close to the surface instead of deep in the ground. The growth rate for the moss is excruciatingly slow. It grows about one centimeter a year and it lives for a long time: about eight to nine years.
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Arctic Willow is a plant that loves to live in a cold and dry open areas. Like the Arctic moss, the willow has small roots that stay near the surface because of the permafrost of the tundra. In its attempt to survive in the cold and harsh environment of the tundra, the Arctic Willow has made many adaptations to survive such as the ability to produce a pesticide to keep insects and bears away from it. Also it adapted to the cold by growing long fuzzy hairs on its leaves.
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The bearberry is a low growing evergreen plant. This plant only grows in the months of March, April, May, and June. The reason bearberry was named what it is, is because bears love to munch on them up in the tundra. These berries are found mainly in dry and non nutrient rich soil such as sand. The bearberry bush has small silky hairs that can keep the warmth in and because it is low to the ground it can stay out of the wind most of the time. This fruit, if drunk, can be used to help heal kidney and bladder problems.
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Caribou moss grows on the ground and on some rocks. The stems are hollow and they branch out in many different places to cover much of the surface they are on. This moss is actually a Lichen which can make food in very low temperatures and is resistant to frost. When the lichen go a while without water, they jut go dormant and wait for more, which is perfect because the tundra has very little rainfall for the plants to drink.
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