The tundra is a cold and inhospitable biome ranging across high latitudes close to the Arctic. The word tundra comes from the Finnish word tunturia, meaning treeless land, and it is true that trees cannot grow here due to the icy blasts of wind. Most of the vegetation here are ground-covering plants. All of these factors combined mean that the tundra is not an ideal place for plants to grow.
Arctic tundra is located in the northern hemisphere in an area encircling the north pole.
Despite these conditions, there are 1,700 species of plants in the Arctic including low shrubs, liverworts, reindeer mosses, lichens, grasses and cushion-forming plants. They tend to be short and grow closely together to resist the cold temperatures and wind. Tundra plants are adapted to photosynthesise in low light and have shallow roots. Alpine tundra is located on mountains throughout the world, where the latitude is too high for trees to grow. The conditions and vegetation are very similar to those of the Arctic tundra.