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Although most polar deserts are biologically very barren, there are exceptions. To determine the general pattern of plant distribution from an ice cap to the lower edge of a plateau, two transects were sampled, one each 500 to 720 m above Alexandra Fiord, Ellesmere Island and 350 to 685 m above Truelove Lowland, Devon Island. Where soil surfaces are moist much of the summer, there is a greater floristic richness, a greater percent cover of cryptogams and vascular species, and the development of a cryptogamic crust on both dolomite and granite-derived soils. In addition, the degree of soil churning, the coarseness and type of substrate, and soil nutrient levels are important at the local scale. The limited data indicate that temperatures are higher at these locations than one would expect from normal lapse rates. The sporadic presence of two or three woody species at 350 to 550 m is further indication of relatively mild conditions compared with most polar desert landscapes at these latitudes where woody species are absent.