Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913
Tundra
Tun′dra, n. [Russ.] One of the level or undulating treeless plains characteristic of northern arctic regions in both hemispheres. The tundras mark the limit of arborescent vegetation; they consist of black mucky soil with a permanently frozen subsoil, but support a dense growth of mosses and lichens, and dwarf herbs and shrubs, often showy-flowered.