176 THE HIGH ALPINE PLANTS 



metres). Of the 73 species or varieties instanced, 

 40 are Alpine, 30 are High Alpine (Nivial), one, 

 Thymus serpyllum^ is a Lowland plant, and two, 

 Gentiana verna and Phyteuma corniculatum, are 

 Subalpine and widely distributed. These figures give 

 a good idea of the proportion of Alpine to High 

 Alpine species at this great elevation. 



We can thus subdivide the Alpine zone into a 

 lower and a higher region, the latter characterised by 

 the presence of certain species, the High Alpines. At 

 the same time, the transition from the lower Alpine to 

 the higher Alpine region is perfectly gradual, just as 

 is the transition from the Subalpine to the Alpine 

 zone. 



The High Alpine species are perhaps the most 

 interesting of all Swiss plants. They are often 

 spoken of as constituting the Nivial or Glacial flora 

 of Switzerland. They present certain peculiarities of 

 habit which at first sight may appear to be unique. 

 As a matter of fact, it will be found, if the lower 

 and higher Alpine floras are closely compared, 

 that most of these peculiarities are shared by plants 

 growing in the lower Alpine region, described in the 

 preceding chapters, though in a less pronounced 

 degree, 

 i It is customary to speak of the " Alpine habit " as 

 ' characteristic of plants growing at great elevations in 

 the Alps. By this is usually implied nothing more 

 than their dwarf stature. Perhaps the most striking 

 feature of Alpine vegetation as a whole is, that the 



