View source for Polar Willow

{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Polar Willow
| image = polarwillow1.jpg
| image_width = 250px
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Dicotyledon|Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Malpighiales]]
| familia = [[Salicaceae]]
| genus = ''[[Willow|Salix]]''
| species = '''''S. polaris'''''
| binomial = ''Salix polaris''
| binomial_authority = [[Göran Wahlenberg|Wahlenb.]]
}}

The '''Polar Willow''' (''Salix polaris'') is a species of [[willow]] with a [[circumpolar]] distribution in the high [[arctic]] [[tundra]], extending north to the limits of land, and south of the arctic in the [[mountain]]s of [[Norway]] and [[British Columbia]], [[Canada]].

One of the smallest willows in the world, it is a prostrate, creeping dwarf [[shrub]], only 2-3 cm high, and has underground branches or runners in the uppermost soil layers. The [[leaf|leaves]] are rounded-ovate, dark green and have entire margins. It is [[plant sexuality|dioecious]], with separate female and male plants. The [[flower]]s are grouped in short [[catkin]]s each bearing only a few flowers. The [[fruit]] is a brownish and hairy [[capsule (fruit)|capsule]]. The long runners with freely-rooting stems creep in mats of [[moss]]es and [[lichen]]s, which keeps them together and protects them from the wind. It grows as well in open [[gravel]] as closed vegetation.