Wherever there is sunlight, air, and soil, plants can be found. On the northernmost coast of Greenland the Arctic poppy peeps out from beneath the ice. Mosses and tussock grasses grow in Antarctica. Flowers of vivid color and great variety force their way up through the snow on mountainsides. Many shrubs and cacti thrive in deserts that go without rain for years at a time, and rivers, lakes, and swamps are filled with water plants.
To date, more than 300,000 plant species have been identified and described. However, botanists—the scientists who study plants—estimate that there are tens of thousands of unidentified species yet to be discovered, especially in less explored ecosystems such as tropical forests.
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"Plant." Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2015. Web. 2 Sep. 2015. <http://school.eb.com/levels/middle/article/276449>.