Temperatures can still dip well below freezing, and dry winds often cause significant damage to plants. Arctic soils, which are usually acidic and low in nitrogen, are inhospitable hosts. Plants must eke out an existence in a few meagre centimetres of earth, their roots confined by unwieldy bedrock or permafrost that is never far from the surface. These rather uncivil factors combine to produce plants that are small, prostrate, and always straddling the tenuous line between wakefulness and dormancy. Arctic plants endure these conditions through a series of adaptations.
Most tundra plants are perennials, which helps ensure their long-term survival.
So while even the hardiest species in more temperate latitudes easily succumb to freak frosts or storms, the flora of Nunavut can be completely frozen one minute and thawed the next as if nothing had happened. Plants here also protect themselves against the elements by crowding together and creating small microclimates. Temperatures in these microclimates are significantly higher than that of the surrounding air, thereby promoting photosynthesis and metabolism that may otherwise be impossible. This is why you'll find Nunavut's plant life nestled in sheltered rock crevices or hugging the contours of the ground. Indeed, soil is rarely visible on the tundra because it is covered by a perpetual layer of mosses and lichens, through which other herbaceous and shrubby plants grow.