What are the Plants that Grow in the Tundra Biome?
Considering the extremely inhospitable conditions of the tundra biome, there are as many as 1,700 different plant species that grow here. The tundra plants consist mostly of mosses, grasses, lichens, sedges, and shrubs. About 400 types of flowers bloom in the growing season, which lasts just for 50-60 days. Except for a few birches in the lower altitudes, no trees grow in the tundra. Because of the permafrost, trees cannot send their roots into the ground. Although in some parts of the tundra willows do grow, but only up to about 8 cm, or 3 inches, high. Developing over thousands of years, most of the vegetation have adapted to the conditions in the tundra by growing in a dense mat of roots. Except where the soil is fertilized by animal droppings, the soil is low in minerals and nutrients. Being too dry and cold for vegetation to grow, the Antarctica tundra is mostly covered by large expanses of ice fields. However, in some parts of the region, especially the Antarctic Peninsula, there
