Being a flower in the Arctic is not for sissies.

Life is so tough, that less than three percent of the world’s plants live here. In this small, exclusive club, most of the members are pretty primitive: mosses, lichens and algae species that were some of the first living creatures on earth.

Just a fraction of one percent of the world’s flowers have learned to live here at the top of the world. These are a special breed. Within this elite group, the Mountain Avens, a member of the Rose family, is one of the most successful, beautiful and hard-working plants in the Arctic.

Laying low is one of the keys to plant survival in the wind-blasted rock desert conditions of the Arctic. The Mountain Avens have short stems and the leaves grow directly from the stem. Both leaves and stem are protected with a woolly growth of hairs to keep moisture in.

Their leaves are evergreen so the plant can spring into action and start photosynthesis the minute the snow melts enough to expose them. In a short Arctic summer, not a day can be wasted waiting for new leaves to grow.

When it blooms, the flower’s saucer shape cleverly intensifies and concentrates solar warmth into the centre of the bloom. Add to this the fact that Mountain Avens are heliotropic (the flower moves throughout the day to follow the sun) and these are the definitive sun-worshipers.

Directing all the warmth and energy of the sun into the centre of the flower helps both pollination and seed production. Flies, the primary pollinators, are happy to relax and unwind in a sun-drenched, wind-proof bloom. Seeds also ripen faster in the heat.

Pollination can be a crap shoot at best for many plants, and in the Arctic it’s too important to leave reproduction to chance. The Mountain Avens has a couple of backup plans; first, they’re hermaphrodites. If a fly doesn’t happen by in time, the plant will self-pollinate. Over time self pollination can reduce the plant’s overall strength, so they will also root from a shoot (vegetative reproduction). Some patches of Mountain Avens have been genetically tested - and found to have been continuously cloning themselves for centuries.

The Inuit people call Mountain Avens malikkat, meaning ‘the follower’. For many Inuit and Dene people, Mountain Avens were important indicators: the unwinding of the feathery top of the seeds was the signal to move inland and prepare for the autumn caribou hunt. This is when the skins are perfect for making winter parkas.

In the rock desert of the Arctic, wherever Mountain Avens grow the landscape benefits. These plants are the best stabilizers of the thin, loose layer of soil on the stony slopes of wind-swept scree. They form a mat that keeps extending its tenacious, criss-crossing root system across a steep slope until the area is solid enough to support other plants as well.

The Canadian Arctic puts great demands on all its inhabitants, and the Mountain Avens is a worthy symbol of all living things in the north. It gives back as much as it takes – a great quality if you’re to survive, and thrive, at the top of the world.