The rolling hills of the tundra around Kangerlussuaq are covered with small shrubs — nothing grows higher than a few feet in the Arctic climate. One common plant is Salix glauca, a dwarf species of willow. During September, it was covered with fibrous white cottony tufts with tiny black seeds. The top photo shows a branch. Below is a detail from that photo, and below that, another one that gives a sense of the scale of the plant in its environment. These were all photographed on a hillside overlooking Lake Ferguson, also known by its Greenlandic name, Tasersuatsiaq.
![Salix glauca, dwarf species of willow Salix glauca, dwarf species of willow](https://helenglazer.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021-0918-6-2.jpg)
![Salix glauca, dwarf species of willow Salix glauca, dwarf species of willow](https://helenglazer.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021-0918-1.jpg)