GROWTH HABITS OF SALIX POLARIS IN SNOWBEDS IN THE KHIBINI MOUNTAINS, KOLA-PENINSULA, RUSSIA

The growth habits of Salix polaris Wahlenb. were examined in snowbeds at an alpine fellfield and an alpine dwarf-shrub tundra site in the Kh ibini Mountains, Russia. Plants were excavated and mapped for growth p attern analysis. With increasing size, S. polaris exhibited an increas e in reproduction relative to vegetative growth. Vegetative density de creased with patch size. Patches at the fellfield were larger than tho se at the dwarf-shrub site, and significantly fewer patches flowered a t the fellfield in 1991; otherwise, no statistically significant diffe rences in growth variables were found between the two sites.