na FORESTRY OF NORWAY. 



are oak, horse-chestnut, elm, maple, pine, yew, hazel 

 growing to a large tree, and many others. At about 

 11,500 feet the forest ends, picea, webbiana, and betula 

 bhojpatra, being usually the last trees. Shrubs continue 

 in abundance for about 1000 feet more ; and about 12,000 

 feet the vegetation becomes almost entirely herbaceous. 

 On this southern face of the mountains the snow-line is 

 probably at about an elevation of 15,500 feet. The high- 

 est dicotyledonous plant noticed was at about 17,500 feet, 

 probably a species of echinospermum. A urtica also is 

 common at these heights. The snow-line here recedes to 

 18,500 or 19,000 feet. In Tibet itself the vegetation is 

 scanty in the extreme, consisting chiefly of caragana, 

 species of artemisia, astragalus, potentilla, a few gramineaB, 

 &c. The cultivation of barley extends to 14.000 feet. 

 Turnips and radishes on rare occasions are cultivated at 

 nearly 16,000 feet. Vegetation ends at about 17,500 feet, 

 scanty pasturage being found in favoured localities at this 

 elevation ; and the highest flowering plants are corydalis, 

 cruciferse, nepeta, sedum, and a few others.' 



' If we examine the vegetation of the mountains of Europe 

 we shall find/ says Balfour, 'a series of similar changes. In 

 the regions of the plains and lower hills of the Alps, extend- 

 ing to 1,700 feet, the vine grows; to this succeeds the zone 

 of chestnuts, which extends to 2 500 feet ; the zone of the 

 beech, and of the higher dicotyledonous trees, reaches 

 from 2,500 to 4000 feet ; we then come to the sub-alpine 

 region, the zone of coniferse, extending to about 6000 feet, 

 in which are found the Scotch fir, the spruce, the larch, 

 and the Siberian pine, along with certain sub-alpine forms 

 of herbaceous plants ; next comes the alpine region, or the 

 zone of shrubs, extending to 7000 feet, characterised by 

 rhododendron hirsutum and R. ferrugineum, which repre- 

 sent the bej arias of the Andes ; finally, we reach the sub- 

 nival region, extending to 8,oOO feet, and comprehending 

 the part between the limits of shrubs and the snow-line, 

 where we meet with numerous species of ranunculus, 



