''Dryas integrifolia'' is a species of flowering plant in the

rose family Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus ''Rosa''. Among the most species-rich genera are '' Alchemilla'' (270), ''Sorbus ...

known by the common names arctic avens,Louis-Marie, P. ND. Flore-Manuel de la Province de Québec, Canada (3e édition). Cooperative Harpell's Press, Gardenvale, PQ. entireleaf mountain-avens, white mountain-avens, northern white mountain avens,''Dryas integrifolia''.
NatureServe. and mountain avens.Aiken, S.G., et al. 2007

NRC Research Press, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa. It is native to northern parts of North America, where it occurs from

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

across

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

. It is a common species of the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

and it is probably the most common flowering plant on some of the western Arctic islands. This plant is a shrub, often a dwarf shrub. It forms a prostrate mat up to to tall, the stems branching horizontally along the ground. The leaves are borne on stipulate petioles that are covered in long, silky or woolly hairs. The leaf blades are linear to lance-shaped and measure up to long. The blades have smooth upper surfaces and densely haired undersides. The flowering stem ( peduncle) has no leaves on it but is covered in long woolly hairs. It bears a single flower with up to 11 obovate petals which are usually white but may be shades of yellow or cream. In the middle are many stamens tipped with yellow anthers. The styles start small and enlarge as the attached fruits mature, becoming up to long and sporting a plumelike coat of long, fluffy hairs. These plumes tangle together, and clumps of fruits fall away from the plant to be borne away on the wind.Au, R. (2006)
Dendroecology of the dwarf shrub ''Dryas integrifolia'' near Churchill, Manitoba (Thesis).
University of Winnipeg. The fruit is an achene. Some flowers exhibit heliotropism, changing orientation to follow the sun. Others grow toward the position of the sun at noon.Krannitz, P. G. (1996)
Reproductive ecology of ''Dryas integrifolia'' in the high Arctic semi-desert.
''Canadian Journal of Botany''. 74:9 1451-60. As the flower faces the sun it provides a resting spot for a variety of insects, being slightly warmer than surrounding surfaces.Wilmer, P., et al. (2005). ''Environmental Physiology of Animals''. 2nd Ed. Blackwell Publishing. Malden, MA. pg 651. Additionally, character expression of the various adjacent floral organs has been seen to demonstrate atavistic character convergence, such that petals may bear the yellow mark of anthers, or a greenish midrib, as sepals do.Hart, G. T. 1988. Dryas integrifolia and its habitat diversity in the Canadian High and Low Arctic (Thesis). University of Toronto, Ontario. xix, 207. This species is

actinorhizal Actinorhizal plants are a group of angiosperms characterized by their ability to form a symbiosis with the nitrogen fixing actinomycetota ''Frankia''. This association leads to the formation of nitrogen-fixing root nodules. Classification Actinorh ...

, able to live in symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. It can also form a symbiosis with the mushroom ''

Hebeloma cylindrosporum ''Hebeloma cylindrosporum'' is a species of mushroom-forming fungus A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar ...

'' via an ectomycorrhiza.Melville, L. H., et al. (1987)
Ontogeny of early stages of ectomycorrhizae synthesized between ''Dryas integrifolia'' and ''Hebeloma cylindrosporum''.
''Botanical Gazette'' 148:3 332-41. This plant is common in many Arctic regions, growing in several types of cold, wet habitat. It can be found in

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...

, meadows, river valleys, and

scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically ...

slopes. It anchors well in rocky and gravelly substrates, and it thrives in soils with low organic content. It is a

pioneer species Pioneer species are hardy species that are the first to colonize barren environments or previously biodiverse steady-state ecosystems that have been disrupted, such as by wildfire. Pioneer flora Some lichens grow on rocks without soil, so ...

in rough terrain. It likely colonized wide areas of the Arctic as

ice sheet In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the Last Glacial Period at La ...

s receded.Tremblay, N. O. and D. J. Schoen. (1999)
Molecular phylogeography of ''Dryas integrifolia'': glacial refugia and postglacial recolonization.
''Molecular Ecology'' 8 7 1187–98. This species dominates several Arctic habitat types, being the first plant to take hold in the scoured substrate and becoming the most abundant species in the area. It dominates a dwarf

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler a ...

plant community A plant community is a collection or association of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The components of each plant ...

along with

sedges The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' wit ...

such as ''

Carex rupestris ''Carex rupestris'', called the curly sedge and rock sedge (names it shares with other members of its genus), is a species of flowering plant in the family Cyperaceae, native to temperate and subarctic North America, Greenland, Iceland, Europe, ...

'' in

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

.''Dryas integrifolia'' - ''Carex'' spp. Dwarf Shrub Herbaceous Vegetation.
Montana Natural Heritage Program. In parts of northern Alaska it codominates bare, cryoturbated soils with the lichen '' Ochrolechia frigida'',8. ''Dryas integrifolia''-''Ochrolechia frigida''.
Toolik Arctic Geobotanical Atlas. Alaska Geobotany Center. and moist coastal flats with '' Carex aquatilis'', a sedge.9. ''Carex aquatilis''-''Dryas integrifolia''.
Toolik Arctic Geobotanical Atlas. Alaska Geobotany Center. The plant's ability to colonize denuded Arctic landscapes makes it a useful tool in revegetation efforts, particularly in habitat altered by

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

. Once the plant takes hold, its dense, matlike form tends to accumulate organic matter. Increasing the organic cover in a barren mining zone is considered an important goal in revegetation efforts.Firlotte, N. and R. J. Staniforth. (1995)
Strategies for revegetation of disturbed gravel areas in climate stressed subarctic environments with special reference to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada: A literature review.
''Climate Research'' 5 49-52. The

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

have many names for the species, including ''malikkaat'', ''isuqtannguat'', ''isurramuat'', and ''piluit''. They monitored the status of the plant in order to track the seasons.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3040181 Dryadoideae Taxa named by Martin Vahl Flora of Greenland