ALPINE CLIMATE IQ! 
Arctic. On our loftier hills, indeed, the heat is on 
occasions oppressive. 
Again, the mountain climate, with its heavy rainfall 
and long cold period, tends to the formation of peat; 
and the acids thus engendered in the soil, as well as 
the low temperature prevailing during most of the 
year, render difficult the absorption of water by the 
roots of plants. The conditions under which alpine 
plants, then, live may be summed up as follows: a 
long cold winter, a short summer; great exposure; 
scarcity of food-supply. The modifications which 
plants have undergone to meet these conditions are 
very marked, and render alpine plants a source of 
constant interest to the traveller and of delight to the 
gardener. The effect of low temperature (also of 
peaty soil) in rendering difficult the absorption of 
food materials, and causing extensive root production 
and limited stem and leaf growth, is immediately 
observable. In Fig. 33 is seen an alpine Stonecrop 
(Sedum primuloides) as growing on the Chinese Alps 
at some 12,000 feet. The root is out of all proportion 
to the aerial parts. The same plant in the garden 
forms a little bush with branching stems half a foot 
long, and flowers borne on leafy axillary shoots a 
couple of inches long, while the roots are short and 
tufted. The most characteristic form which alpine 
plants assume may be called the cushion type. This is 
produced by excessive branching of the stems of 
small-leaved plants, accompanied by but little longi- 
tudinal growth; and it is excellently shown in many 
well-known plants such as the Mossy Saxifrages, 
the Kabschia Saxifrages, the Cushion Pink (Silene 
acaulis), and a number of others, The same type of 
