academy of sc. B NCE S .] DESCRIPTION OF ALPINE TYPES, 37 



Chapter 5. 

 DESCRIPTIONS OF ALPINE TYPES. 



Characteristic of the Alpine vegetation are the same features which we observe in the 

 Arctic: Absence of trees; among the herbs are no saprophytes, no epiphytes, no climbers, and 

 no parasites except some few Scrophulariaceae with green foliage. The woody plants are 

 mostly in the shape of creeping shrubs; bulbous plants are absent, with the exception of 

 Lloydia, Zygadenus, and Saxifraga cernua; fleshy rhizomes are very scarce, and tuberiferous 

 stolons do not exist. Only a relatively small number of species are able to spread by means 

 of stolons, subterranean (Carex), aerial (Antennaria, Saxifraga fiagellaris, Androsace Chamae- 

 jasme, etc.). Similar to the Arctic plants, 1 the vegetative reproduction is secured by means of 

 overwintering buds, which are not buried in the ground but situated close to the surface and 

 protected by the withered foliage. Most of the herbs are caespitose, with the numerous leafy 

 shoots forming cushions, or with the leaves more ample, frequently forming a rosette; a 

 profuse branching is common to the herbaceous as well as to the woody species, as is exactly 

 the case of the Arctic. The primary root often persists and increases in thickness sometimes 

 to quite a considerable extent (Claytonia, Calandrinia, etc.). 



We meet with the same floral structures as in the Arctic; some that are adapted to polli- 

 nation by insects, others by the wind; among the former we observe the same brilliant colors 

 and the profuse development of flowers. The similarity between the Alpine and Arctic vege- 

 tation is altogether striking, although the former enjoys a climate more favorable than the 

 latter. On the other hand, the Arctic plants have the advantage of constant daylight for 

 three months and are spared from the frequent, often violent, changes in temperature, which 

 are a daily occurrence in the Alpine region, often accompanied by heavy rains, hailstorms, 

 and snow. 



From a morphological viewpoint, the Alpine plants offer several points of interest, and 

 quite especially with reference to the method of hibernation and vegetative reproduction. 

 The Alpine types may be represented by species of a genus which at lower altitudes exhibits 

 a structure entirely distinct, as, for instance, in Arenaria, Claytonia, Saxifraga, Trifolium, etc., 

 and the consequent difference in habit often becomes very striking. But in certain families, 

 notably the Gramineae and Cyperaceae, there is no great difference in the external structure, 

 whether the species be an Alpine or a lowland type ; only in the development of stolons above 

 ground, as for instance, in Glyceria, Cynodon, etc., such structures do not develop in the Alpine 

 region; neither do we meet with the ramified culms, so very characteristic of the Gramineae 

 of the plains, Munroa, Vilfa, Aristida, etc. The caespitose growth is the one characteristic of 

 the Alpine Gramineae; Poa Lettermannii and Festuca ovina (pi. 7, figs. 67-74) illustrate this 

 type, and these two specimens, dwarfed as they are, are nevertheless provided with perfectly 

 normal spikelets; they represent the species of Gramineae, which in Colorado ascends to the 

 highest altitudes. A corresponding caespitose habit is also characteristic of various Cyperaceae 

 and Juncaceae (pi. 7, figs. 59, 60, and 66). These figures show, furthermore, the stunted growth 

 of Carex capiUaris and C. atrata when they occur in the Alpine region. Their proper home is 

 at lower elevations, notably in the aspen zone, while C. chalciolepis (fig. 60) is a genuine Alpine 

 type, which nevertheless is quite a tall plant with a very slender culm. C. atrata and ft 

 capiUaris thus offer a good example of reduction in height and structure of inflorescence acquired 

 by Carices when they leave the wooded belts and migrate to the higher altitudes, above timber 



i Kjellman, F. R.: Ur Polarvaxternas lif. (A. E. Nordenskidld: Studier och Forskningar fbranledda af mina resor i lioga nordeu. Stockholm, 

 1884.) 



