BOTANICAL GEOGRAPHY 329 
in the equatorial Andes and lessens in higher latitudes as 
one goes either way from the equator. In the White 
Mountains, for instance, the timber line only rises to about 
four thousand five hundred feet. The seed-plants of alpine 
regions in all parts of the earth have a peculiar and charac- 
teristic appearance. It is easiest to show how such plants 
differ from those of the same species as they look when 
EA LZ 
FIG. 233. — Trees near the Timber Line on the Slope of Pikes Peak. 
growing in ordinary situations by reference to the plants 
themselves or to good pictures of them (see Fig. 235). 
The differences between alpine and non-alpine plants of 
the same or closely related species have been summed up 
as follows: 1 
‘The alpine individuals have shorter stems, smaller leaves, 
more strongly developed roots, equally large or somewhat 
larger and usually somewhat more deeply colored flowers, 
and their whole structure is drought-loving (xerophilous).” 
1 By A. F. W. Schimper. 
