Alpine and Arctic Floras 



of smooth swelling curves rising one above another 

 and easily sketched in by long sweeps of the pencil. 

 But, even at a distance, the jagged, saw-like edges or 

 irregular rocky bosses of the summit are quite distinct, 

 and can only be drawn with some trouble, for they 

 require many short, straight, or irregular lines. 



The reason for this difference depends upon the 

 plant-covering. In the lower grounds, minor irregu- 

 larities have all been smoothed over by their continuous 

 covering of vegetation. The outline of a peat-moss 

 or of grass-land, even of a properly grown forest 

 or woodland, is a continuous curve. Where straight 

 broken lines appear, they are due either to man's 

 agency or to the fact that some steep precipitous crags or 

 ravines have not yet been occupied by the plant world. 



On the summits the flowering plants are not con- 

 tinuous but dotted about or isolated, forming what is 

 known as an <^ open " flora. Yet on such a summit 

 the flora is trying to close itself up ; attempts are being 

 made to cover the whole surface by one continuous 

 vegetation. But there are several competitors. 



One finds, for instance, many blaeberries, here and 

 there grasses (such as sheep's fescue and Aira flexuosa, 

 perhaps Nardus), and certain rushes (]. squarrosus) ; 

 sedges may be scattered here and there (Scirpus spp., 

 and perhaps alpine Carices), and, which is of geological 

 interest, our miserable little Lycopodiums and the hard- 

 fern are common enough. 



On the very highest of our Scotch, Welsh, and English 

 mountains one finds in such places the regular alpines 

 (Lychnis alpina, Alchemilla alpina, Armeria, Saxifrages, 

 and the like, see below), but those we have mentioned 

 above are common, and also occur at very great altitudes 

 and in high northern latitudes. 



A blaeberry in such places has rooted itself in some 



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