Borovichev E.A. Botanical excursion on the Northern Soroya. Hammerfest, 2014.

Alpine [tundra) zone Apart from lacking some of the trees, general plant cover o f the lower alpine tundra on S 0 reya also differs slightly from mountain birch forest. Biodiversity in the low-alpine tundra is usually richer than in neighboring subalpine forest. Swedish Cornell (Cornus suecica). Twinflower (Linnaea borealis ), Arctic Starflower (Trientalis europaea) are common plants in both mountain birch forest and lower alpine belt. But why do the forest species occur without m / ж Д . Я г ш ш к Photo E. Kopeina Blue Mountain Heath (Phyllodoce caerulea) looks a little bit like Crowberry and has similar, but longer leaves and urn-shaped lilacflowers Dwarfbirch (Betula папа) is a shrub that rangesfrom prostrate to 1-1.2 m tall and has rounded leaves and erectfruiting catkins Blueberry (Vaccinium uliginosum) is deciduous shrub with small, pink, bell-shaped flowers and dark blue, soft, oval to round, tasty, slightly tart berries, ripening from July to early September Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) is deciduous shrub with small, greenish-pink, bell-shaped flowers and black, soft , round, tasty berries . Leaves and berries are widely used in traditional and official medicine: leaves as anti-diabetic, berries as anti-inflammatory remedy and astringent in diarrhea 34