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     There are only a few plants that grow in the Arctic because of the cold.  Some seeds are hardy.  They can live for years under the cold freezing snow.  Once the snow melts the growing season is very short.  Even in the summer it is windy and cold.  Still many different Arctic plants have adapted to the arctic tundra.  Some of the plants that grow there are mosses, grasses, herbs, lichens also small shrubs like the dwarf willow and the arctic willow. There also is cotton grass in the arctic.  Most of the plants are small so they grow together and have a fuzzy covering on their stems leaves and buds.  The plants also have shallow roots because only the top layer of soil thaws out.  Most tundra plants are perennials.  Perennials don't die in the winter. 

    The willow is a plant the inuit call a tongue plant because the shape of the plant looks like a tongue.  All the plants grow close to the ground.