130 ALPINE VEGETATION. 
leh Mountains; and in the Andes, about Quito, it only 
ceases at 5,000 or 6,000 feet. 
2. Region of Woods.—A magnificent region in all Alpine 
situations, and conspicuous on the Andes for the multitude 
of its forms. In the Himma-leh it is also very rich. It 
is the region of woods of Humboldt on Teneriffe; of 
Philipi on Etna, to 6,200 feet; in the Canaries to 4,080 feet; 
and the region of the Chestnut, in Madeira, to 2,950 feet. 
Wahlenberg makes two regions of it in Lapland, both only 
attaining 800 feet; and Von Buch, in Finmark, in 70° N.L., 
limits it at 730 feet. 
3. Region of Shrubs.—' The existence of this region asa 
characteristic portion of Alpine vegetation, has been as fully 
observed as the last, though its greater distance from the 
plains and its less obtrusive constituents, do not give it 
the same interest. It is the region of the Retama (Spartium 
nubigenum) on Teneriffe; and on the Pyrenées and Mont 
Blanc is extensively covered, to about 9,000 feet, with Rho- 
dodendrons. In the Andes, about Quito, it reaches, accord- 
ing to Colonel Hall, to 13,000 feet, and among a variety of 
other plants, is conspicuous for its shrubby Composite. Kuh 
has two regions in Madeira for this, one of Spartium and 
another of Heath, though both are mingled to the summit of 
the island. It is equally conspicuous in high latitudes. On 
the southern declivities of the mountains of Lapland, dwarf 
Betula, Vaccinium, and Salix attain 3,300 feet; and in Fin- 
mark, Von Buch limits them at 3,100 feet. 
4. Region of Grasses.—The predominance of these, in cer- 
tain Alpine situations and parallels of latitude, has not been 
overlooked, but they do not seem to me to have attracted 
that attention for their permanence which they deserve. The 
universal increase they gradually assume over the rest of the 
flora as the latitude is increased, is an admitted fact in Geo- 
graphic Botany ; but the characteristics they convey depend 
more on the repetition of individuals than on the amount of 
species. In high latitudes, much of the surface is often — 
covered with straggling grasses, which, in the short bright 
