SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



PART I 



CHAPTER I 



SUB-ALPINE PLANTS AND WHERE THEY GROW: 

 A COMPARISON WITH THE FLORA OF BRITAIN 



IN the author's Alpine Plants of Europe, which dealt chiefly with 

 the plants of the higher Alpine region, it was pointed out that it is 

 impossible to define zones of altitude at all rigidly, even in regard 

 to a small country like Switzerland, and that different authorities 

 had not always adopted the same standards of elevation in speaking 

 of the vegetation of the 'mountains of Central Europe. 



It was stated that it was impossible to give an exact definition 

 of the term ' sub-alpine,' but it could be taken to be the zone from 

 about 3000 feet, where the vine ceases to be cultivated, to about 

 5000 feet. But it should be clearly understood that any such 

 limitation is purely arbitrary, and that the expressions Alpine and 

 sub-alpine are often used in a very general sense. The vegetation 

 of one valley of say 5000 feet above the sea may be far more Alpine 

 in character than that of another of about the same height in a 

 district not very remote. 



Nor is it always possible to do as that great Alpinist and student 

 of the Alpine flora, the late John Ball, 1 did. He called the Sub- 

 Alpine Region the Region of Coniferous trees ; and the lower 

 Mountain Region the Region of Deciduous trees (whose upper 

 limit often rises to 5000 feet on the southern slopes). But beech 

 forests are also, in certain districts, a great feature of the sub-alpine 

 zone. The very fact that the forest region, and especially the pine 

 forest region, varies so much in different countries of Europe, 

 and also in quite limited districts, prevents such a basis of calculation 

 from being quite satisfactory, though otherwise it has much to 

 commend it. 



In Switzerland the Lowland region comprises the plains and the 



1 "Climate and Vegetation of the Alps," in the General Introduction to the 

 Alpine Guide. 



B 



