Arctic Flora

Bladder Campion – melandrium
Inkutitut: ugjunnait

Pielou explains that there are two genra of campion in the arctic, the bladder campion are a distinctive looking flower with a stripped “bladder” which is often inflated and wooly. Purpulish in color and hangs down “like a tiny Japanese lantern.”

Location
The habitat of the bladder campion tends to be along moist stony places in the tundra and riverbanks. The area in Pang this plant was growing was alongside the flowing water on the hillside, isolated from other flowering plants in a damp area of the tundra.

Traditional Usage
The young shoots are edible, but saponin (a chemical compound found in an abundance of plant species) gives them a bitter flavor.

Cerastium regelii Ostenf - Mouse-ear Chickweed

A species of mat forming plant with many small white flowers and silver haired stems. They look as though they have 8 petals, but are actually only 4, each with a deep lobe.

Location
The chickweed was located in a low, wet area on the Pang hill close to the flowing water. It is common for this plant to thrive close to moss and peat that co-exist along moist areas.

Traditional Usage
Comes from the family of caryophyllaceae, whose main traditional uses were medicinal and ornamental.

Chamerion latifolium - Arctic Fireweed, Dwarf Fireweed
Inuktitut: paunnaq

This herb is often abundant in wet, open fields, pastures, and particularly burned-over lands; the name Fireweed derives from the species' abundance as a coloniser on burnt sites after forest fires. They have reddish stems and scattered leaves. They also have four symmetrical magenta colored flowers.

Location
Fireweed flourishes on roadsides and burnt-over lands where it may become extremely abundant. It was not until mid-July that I located any fireweed growing in Pang. Like much of the arctic flora in Pang this year, it was late to bloom. I found this plant on the hillside, although much of the fireweed I saw in the coming weeks was located on sandy, well drained, sloping areas near the harbor.

Traditional Usage
The flowers of the may be eaten raw as a salad. Traditionally, the whole plant, except the roots, was boiled or chewed to relieve general stomachache and as an aid for gastro-intestinal problems, although eating too much may cause diarrhea.

Cladonia rangiferina – Reindeer lichen or Caribou moss

Reindeer lichen is a light-colored lichen belonging to the family Cladoniaceae. It grows in both hot and cold climates in well-drained, open environments.
It is extensively branched, and can be light green, white or grayish in color.
It is also extremely hardy to cold weather.

Location
Reindeer lichen can be found growing plentifully on soil over rocks. This patch was found on the Pang hill loosely surrounding edges of a flat rock, although it can thrive in a wide range of habitats, from humid, open forests to dry patches around rocks and heaths.

Traditional Usage
The Inland Dena'ina and Inuit in Labrador have traditionally used reindeer lichen for food in time of starvation by crushing the dry plant and then boiling it or soaking it in hot water until it becomes soft. It can also be drunk medicinally for diarrhea.

Cassiope tetragona - Arctic bell-heather

This dwarf shrub grows from 10–20 cm in height. The leaves are grooved and scale-like in 4 rows. The flowers are bell-shaped and usually with white and pink lobes. The flower stalks are bright red, but the petals may also be yellowish-white

Location
I noticed this plant growing on a flat, dry, rocky area of the tundra in great abundance on the hillside. It was usually close to other species of heather. The plant prefers light, sandy soils and requires well-drained soil

Traditional Usage
Inuit have called this plant itsutit meaning "fuel for the fire." Arctic heather has traditionally been used for lighting fires to boil water for tea. Further, the flowers are said to taste awful.
Arctic bell heather was also used to insulate roofs when mixed with mosses and lichens.

Sphagnum Moss – Bog Moss

Sphagnum is easily distinguished from other mosses because of its soft thick fullness and its vivid green color. It is one of many species of mosses commonly called peat moss, due to its prevalence in peat bogs. The plant absorbs and retains water that can be squeezed out while it will not collapse and is ready to take in fluid again (Modern Herbal).

Location
Peat mosses occur mainly in the Northern Hemisphere in thick clumps that form a mat in watery areas called a bog. I located this moss high up on the hill in Pang practically submerged within a very sandy, quick flowing stream that flowed down the centre of a slope.

Traditional Usage
Sphagnum Moss was traditionally used for dressing wounds. It was also
dried out and piled in children's cradles to supply the place of mattress, and was changed morning and night. It was believed to help keep infants clean, dry and warm.

Ledum palustre – Labrador Tea
Inuktitut: qijuktaaqpait

A plant belonging to the Ericaceae, bilberry family, it is a low lying shrub with dark green leaves which are smooth on top with wrinkled edges. The tiny white flowers grow in tight clusters and are very fragrant.

Location
Distributed amongst the northern hemisphere and circumpolar regions, I found the Labrador Tea situated on a mound on the hillside in Pang in a dry sloping area. It was growing around flat rocks and surrounded by lots of moss-lichen.

Traditional Usage
The Inuit name qijuktaaqpait is used in South Baffin, which translates to "a large amount of fuel for a fire." Medicinal teas are made from the leaves to help general stomachaches and to ease breathing for people with tuberculosis or similiar ailments. However, The boiling or steeping of the plant for more than 10 minutes is not recommended because of some of the chemical compounds it contains. It is also used to treat toothaches and eye disorders. Labrador tea leaves may be chewed, placed on the chest or mixed with seal fat in an ointment and rubbed on the chest and can be picked all year round, while it is strongest in autumn and winter.

Diapensia – Diapensia lapponica
Inuktitut: piruqtut nunaaralikuluit

A small cushion-forming evergreen shrub that can grow up to 15 cm in height. Its leathery can be up to 1 cm long and are arranged in dense rosettes. It also grows solitary white flowers, on stems up to 3 cm tall.

Location
As a sub-species, Diapensia lapponica flourishes in eastern North America, Greenland, Scotland, Scandinavia, and western Arctic Russia. It tends to favor northern environments, thriving mostly around near shorelines or among rocks in small, acid soil pockets. Further, it does not like snow so tends to grow in wind-swept habitats. I found it on a very dry area of hillside in Pang amongst lichens and rock.

Traditional Usage
While little information can be retrieved on traditional Inuit usages of the plant, it is believed that potential economic uses of Diapensia may someday be of value when considering the oils in its tissues. Diapensia is also a very desirable garden plant, but its cultivation usually fails.

Dryas integrifolia – Mountain Avens
Inuktitut: milikkaat

The stems are woody and have short branches. The flowers are 3–10 cm long, and have eight white petals with a solid yellow centre. The feathery hairs of the on the flower appear glossy and expand outwards into a ball shape.

Location
It grows in dry localities where snow melts early, and on gravel or rocky parts of the tundra. In Pang, I found this group of mountain avens high on the hillside above the tents where the ground was quite dry and free of any other species of flowers in the direct vicinity.

Traditional Usage
The word malikkaat is used in Pangnirtung while isuqtannguat is used in other parts of Baffin Island. These plants are called malikkaat because they follow the seasons. The word isurramuat refers to the fact that they follow the path of the sun. These plants are said to indicate the seasons: when summer is coming they fold out in one direction and when winter is coming they fold in and twist in the other direction.

In some communities in both North and South Baffin it refers to leaves that seem to sprout individually right from the ground.

Persicaria bistorta - Common Bistort
Inuktitut: sapangaralannguat

Grows to about 5-9 cm long and end 1 meter tall, with upright growing stems in moist soils. The leaves are oblong and narrow at the base. Each stem has grows a cluster of tiny white or pinkish flowers, which bloom from May-August.

Location
A native plant to many parts of Northern Europe, and the Northern hemisphere. I found this plant near the river in Pang during the plant seminar with Uviluq and Alukie. It was located on a dry slope of the tundra in which the area was well drained and in the vicinity of rocks.

Traditional Usage
An Inuit name for this species is sapangaralannguat, which means "imitation small beads." The starchy rhizome of this species, is called uqpigait, and can be eaten raw, but since it is slightly astringent, it is better eaten cooked.

Common Cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium)
Inuktitut: Puallunnguat

The flowering stem is 20-70 cm tall, and has three to five cotton-like inflorescences hanging from the top. It is in flower from May to June, and the seeds ripen from July to August.

Location
Found throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere and are particularly abundant in Arctic tundra regions.

Its habitat is mostly among peat bogs, acid meadows and marshes. The plant can grow in heavy clay soil, and prefers acid soils and can and can grow in no shade. With that said, it requires wet soil and can even grow in water.

Traditional Usage
Much like arctic willow, Inuit would use the cottony seed hairs to light kulliks. They could also be used for stuffing pillows or making beds by weaving dried stems and leaves into soft mats or covers. Otherwise, the leaves and roots are considerably astringent and have been used in the past as a treatment for diarrhea.

Bog Rush – Juncus triglumis

A fragile plant that grows in damp areas anywhere from 15-40cm in height. Contains flowering stems without leaves, and grows in more or less straight rows horizontally.

Location
Three-flowered rush is transcontinental in North America, and extends
from Alaska to Greenland, found mostly in mountain summits around arctic coasts and thrives in wet, sandy areas. I found the plant growing near a swampy area on the hillside in Pang.

Traditional Usage
Despite being unable to find traditional uses of the bog rush among Inuit in the eastern arctic, more recent usage of this plant include to its usefulness as an
indicator of global climatic changes through analyzing its hardiness throughout the country.

Saxifraga oppositifolia – Purple Saxifrage
Inuktitut: Aupilattunnguat

A low-growing, matted plant that grows 3–5 cm high. The leaves are small, rounded, and the flower petals are purple or lilac. It also has many small, overlapping, scale-like leaves. It is one of the very first spring flowers, continuing to flower during the whole summer.

Location
It can grow in all kinds of cold temperate to arctic habitats. I found this plant growing in a rocky area on the hillside that was otherwise colorless and damp, surrounded by moss.

Traditional Usage
The flowers can be picked for food, as the semi-sweet petals are edible. Also,
Inuit used purple saxifrage to determine when caribou herds were calving, as the plant would bloom at the same time. It now serves as the territorial flower of Nunavut.

Papaver radicatum, arctic poppy

A part of the papaveraceae family, arctic poppies are similar to that of Iceland poppies that are grown in gardens. Each yellow or white shiny flower has a barrel shaped seed capsule with spokes on top.

Location
E. C. Pielou explains that Arctic poppies constantly turn to face the sun wherever it may be shining, and that yellow poppies are more common in sunny places, whereas the white ones tend to be in cloudier places. As Pang has seemingly had a very warm and sunny July this year, I found its bright yellow flower on very dry, gravel soil near the harbor.

Traditional Usage
Parts of the plant are poisonous if ingested, it is toxic to some mammals but its toxicity level is low. However, traditionally poppies have been attributed for its medicinal properties, such as being used as mild sedative.

Arctic Willow (Salix Arctica)
Inuktitut: Suputiit

A shrub that never exceeds more than 60 centimeters in height. It has shiny green leaves with long silky, silvery hairs. The female catkins are red-colored, while the male catkins are more yellow-colored.

Location
Common on the tundra’s of North America and grows in clumps that form dense mats on the tundra throughout Pangnirtung.

Traditional Usage
Alukie and Uviluq explained that arctic willow is one of the main ingredients in lighting a kullik (oil lamp), where it acts as the wick. Further, willow leaves are high in vitamin C, containing 7 to 10 times more than an orange.

Works Cited

Pielou, E. C. A Naturalist's Guide to the Arctic. London : The University of Chicago Press, 1994. Print.

Aiken, S.G. Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. 2007. National Research Council Canada. 07 Aug 2009

"Arctic Bladder Campion" photo courtesy of cam17
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37644572@N00/2871122345/
as i seem to have deleted my own copy