1905-1 9°6.] Scottish Moujitam Plants. 249 



hairs, &c., on leaves were protections against cold, but it has 

 been clearly proved that their purpose is to prevent undue 

 loss of water from the shoots. By means of these protective 

 measures against drought, the plants are enabled to live in 

 situations where they could not otherwise do. Mountain 

 plants are generally xerophilous in structure. In a few 

 instances some prominent plants are found even more plen- 

 tifully on the sea -shore, where, owing to the presence of 

 saline matter in the soil, the plants meet with a similar 

 though not the same difficulty of safeguarding the water- 

 supply, and thus assume a like character. In Scotland, 

 Armeria maritima, the Thrift (so called because it grows 

 readily under varied circumstances), and the Scurvy Grass 

 (Cochlearia officinalis), occur both on the coast and on 

 mountains. 



Conspicuoics Flowers. — Although smaller than lowland ex- 

 amples, the flowers of mountain plants are usually quite as 

 large, and perhaps larger. Often they are more conspicuous, 

 owing to the sparse foliage ; and in the cushion type of 

 plants they may occur so plentifully as to hide the leaves 

 from view. 



The intensity of colour exhibited by native mountain 

 flowers is marked in the case of the Alpine Forget-me-not 

 (Myosotis alpestris), a Pansy (Viola lutea var. amoena) vari- 

 ously coloured, &c. If wild flowers of Oxytropis campestris 

 be compared with those obtained from garden plants, the 

 difference in purity of tone is usually appreciable. 



Barren and Viviparous Forms. — Some plants cease to flower 

 as they approach the height limit. For instance, the Heather 

 occurs as a stunted flowerless plant in some of its higher 

 stations in Scotland. In the same way the London Pride 

 (Saxifraga umbrosa) is flowerless on some of the summits of 

 Irish mountains. The barrenness of such plants is of little 

 consequence ; there are always plenty of recruits in a normal 

 fertile state at a lower elevation. These supply the higher 

 unfavourable ground with seed, easily wind-blown. 



Certain plants produce little bulbils or plantlets, these 

 either supplementing or replacing the usual flowers. Such 

 plants are termed viviparous. In Polygonum viviparum — • 

 not infrequently found in subalpine pastures — flowers occur 



