There is an abundance of grass and moss varieties, which tend to flourish much better here than in similar regions of northern Scandinavia and Greenland. The most common kinds of vegetation are various types of low-growing shrubs, especially heather, crowberry, bearberry, willow and dwarf birch. Some of the most striking features in the landscape, particularly so in the southwest, are the lichens and mosses on the lava fields. All over the country, including the inhabited lowlands, there are vast areas of sandy wastelands, bare rock, stony deserts and lava fields. Land mammals When Iceland was settled in the ninth century, the Arctic fox was the only land mammal in the country.
Foxes are still common all over Iceland and are known to ravage sheep.
Man later accidentally introduced the brown rat, the black rat, the house mouse, and the field mouse. Reindeer were imported from Norway in the late eighteenth century, and there are considerable numbers of them in the highlands of the east. In about 1930, mink was introduced for fur farming, but soon escaped in great numbers and reverted to its wild state, causing great damage to bird life and fresh-water fish. Polar bears have occasionally ended up in Iceland on drift ice, but have always been killed shortly after their arrival. The most common domestic animals are cattle, sheep and horses.