The Kola Peninsula tundra is a Palearctic tundra ecoregion spanning the northern and northeastern Kola Peninsula of northwestern Russia and reaching into the northeasternmost tip of Norway, where coastal lowlands meet the Barents Sea to the north and the White Sea along the eastern and southeastern edge. The only trees are sparse woodlands of low, crooked birch, including dwarf birch, while the open ground is carpeted with lichens, mosses, and dwarf shrubs such as mountain crowberry, bilberry, cowberry (lingonberry), alpine bearberry, alpine azalea, and Swedish dwarf cornel, alongside cloudberry. The climate is humid continental of the cool-summer subtype, with long, cold winters and short, cool summers. The ecoregion's flagship species is the Steller's eider, and its sheer coastal cliffs host vast nesting colonies of seabirds including black-legged kittiwakes and murres; protected areas include the Kandalaksha Nature Reserve in Russia and Varangerhalvoya National Park in Norway. For cold-climate gardeners, several hardy native groundcovers grow here, among them lingonberry, bilberry, bearberry, and cloudberry.

At a glance

About the tundra biome

Treeless polar and high-mountain landscapes of low shrubs, sedges, mosses, and lichens, where cold and a short growing season cap plant height. Soils are frequently frozen as permafrost, and these systems recover only slowly from disturbance.

Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion

Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.

Collections for this ecoregion

Curated multi-plant collections whose members all fit this ecoregion's zone range — no won't-grow members smuggled in. Overall fit class shown per collection is the weakest link across its members.

Related ecoregions