324 



PLANT SOCIOLOGY 



5. The Caricetum curvulae, 2,300 to 2,700 m. 



6. The Gyrophoretum, above 2,700 m. 



In the mountains of central France (Auvergne) we find crowded 

 together in narrow hmits the cHmax areas of the Quercion roboris 

 sessihflorae up to 800 to 900 m., the Fagion, 900 to 1,500 m.; 

 and the Genisteto-Vaccinion, 1,500 to 1,880 m.; in the southern 

 Cevennes there are cUmax areas of the Quercion ihcis, Quercion pubes- 

 centis, and Fagion silvaticae (Fig. 161). 



Fig. 161. — The South Cevennes, showing climax regions of Quercus ilex forests up 

 to 600 m. {A); of Quercus pubescens up to 1,000 m. (B); and oi Fagus silvatica up to 1,567 

 m. (C). 



It would be most desirable to have the climax areas of central and 

 western Europe described and bounded before forestry has transformed 

 the last remnants of the ancient forests. 



In naming the climax areas it is best to use the terminal climatic 

 community in wider or narrower sense, as alliance or association. The 

 climax area of the alpine turf of the eastern Rhetic Central Alps con- 

 sists of two floristically related associations, the Curvuletum and the 

 Festucetum halleri. The latter lies in narrow strips between the 

 former and the timber line. In naming this region we have chosen not 

 an association name but the name of the alliance; we speak of the 

 climax area of the Caricion curvulae. The manner of bounding this 

 climax area and distinguishing it from the adjacent pine-larch climax 

 area is explained on page 263 (Fig. 131). 



