With a protective helmet and a protruding lower lip, louseworts are curious plants, their tiny flowers somewhat reminiscent of garden snapdragons. They produce a good supply of nectar at the base of the flower tube and are frequently visited by large arctic bees. The plant's delicate leaves are often mistaken for small ferns, hence its other common name, the fernweed. The Arctic even has its own version of fireweed, a prostrate variety that can turn whole hillsides or valleys bright pink. The young shoots also make a tasty salad.
Prickly saxifrages are straggly plants with three-pronged leaves bearing sharp spikes.
The plant's pretty white flowers form a bunch at the top of a flowering stem that grows a few centimetres above ground level. If you happen across a patch of especially green, luxuriant growth during your wanderings across the tundra meadow, you can be sure you've come to an animal den, old human camp site, dump site, or bird roost. The arctic terrestrial environment is generally lacking in nitrogen, and plants take full advantage of nitrogen-rich areas such as these. Bladder campions, mountain sorrel, mouse-ear chickweed, and stitchwort are often found in these locations. Black, plump crowberries are a favorite of the Inuit, but their many seeds give them a gritty taste.