Tundra & Alpine Habitat

What is a bristlecone pine? The Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) is an extremely long-lived coniferous tree native to the high-altitude mountain ranges of the American Southwest. It is globally famous as the oldest known non-clonal living organism on Earth, with individual trees documented to be over 4,800 years old. Growing in harsh, wind-swept, alpine conditions where other plants cannot survive, these trees grow incredibly slowly, developing dense, resinous wood that resists decay.

What is Sphagnum Moss? Sphagnum is a genus of approximately 380 species of mosses, commonly known as peat moss. Why is Sphagnum moss important? It is a critical ecosystem engineer that dominates peat bogs, wet tundras, and boreal forests. Sphagnum moss can store massive amounts of water—up to 20 times its dry weight—within its specialized cells. Over thousands of years, the slow decay of this moss in waterlogged conditions forms peat, which stores more carbon than all the world's tropical rainforests combined.

What is a butterwort? The common butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris) is a small carnivorous plant in the Lentibulariaceae family. Found across cold northern latitudes and alpine slopes, it is famous for its rosette of greasy, yellowish-green leaves. It uses flypaper-like traps to catch insects, secreting sticky mucilage from glandular hairs on its leaves.

What is Magellan's Peat Moss? Sphagnum magellanicum, or red peat moss, is a key species of non-vascular bryophyte in the Sphagnaceae family. How does it differ from other peat mosses? It is easily recognized by its striking crimson-red or purplish color. It is a major peat-forming species in the bogs of the Northern and Southern hemispheres, engineering acidic, waterlogged ecosystems.

A low-growing plant with striking, small sky-blue flowers with bright yellow centers.

A deciduous conifer that sheds its needles in autumn, turning a striking golden yellow.

A carnivorous plant that grows in cold sub-arctic bogs, using sticky leaves to catch gnats.