OCR Text |
Show Arctic Flowering Plantt One curious difference between the Arctic and Antarctic is in the flowering plants found in each area. In the regions around the South pole the strictest search has failed to reveal more than three or four kinds of flowering plants. The veg-I veg-I etation is almost entirely composed of lichens and mosses. The mosses are Indeed remarkable, attaining a development which is not to be seen elsewhere. These plants, so insignificant with us, form immense im-mense clumps In the Antarctic several sev-eral feet high. During the long winter the clumps freeze solid, but the cold does not harm the moss In the least, and during the few months when the temperature Is more genial It grows with great vigor. In the Arctic circle at least "i(Kj species of flowering plants have been discovered, and it Is likely that there are many more. Large areas within only a few hundred miles of the North pole are ablaza with blossom during the brief but extremely bright summer |