ALPINE PLANTS 



plant, up to an altitude of 2000 feet. These are situated on dry 

 peat. 



2. Cotton-Grass boggy moors on very wet peat, reaching 

 their greatest development from 1200 to 1600 feet. 



3. Vaccinium moors above 2000 feet. Here the Alpine 

 region is reached, and many of the plants are truly Alpine in 

 character. 



Sphagnum bogs occur in small areas on all these moors. 



ALPINE PLANTS 



There is naturally only a sprinkling of Alpine plants in the 

 British Isles. They are found mainly on the mountain-tops or 

 exposed moors of the Scotch Highlands, on the fells of the Lake 

 district, and in West Ireland. One of the Scotch mountains 

 most rich in Alpine species is Ben Lawers. At a height of about 

 3000 feet the vegetation on these mountains becomes very 

 stunted ; Mosses and Lichens predominate, the Staghorn Moss 

 (Lycopodium clavatum), dwarf plants of Crowberry and Bilberry 

 occur, but sparingly. In the sheltered crags and wet places the 

 Alpine Meadow-Rue, the Alpine Lady's Mantle, several Saxifrages, 

 the Scurvy Grass, the Moss Campion, are recorded by several 

 observers. These plants resemble each other in certain respects. 

 They are all small, for tall plants would not be able to stand the 

 wind, which is felt even in the sheltered parts of these regions. 

 They are usually perennials, coming up year after year without 

 making seed. They grow thickly together, forming dense 

 cushions, and thus are kept warm ; they are very hairy or downy 

 plants ; the flowers are borne on short stems, which do not take 

 long to grow, so that the plant is ready to flower as the summer, 

 which is late in the Highlands, arrives. Although the flowers 

 are often small, they are conspicuous by their colouring. The 

 Moss Campion (Silene acaulis), found on Ben Lawers and other 

 Scotch mountains, has large, bright pink flowers, each borne on a 

 short flower-stalk. The whole plant forms a cushion-like growth, 

 owing to the continual branching of the stems ; the leaves are 

 very tiny and undivided ; a mass of this plant with its pink 

 flowers standing out conspicuously from its cushion makes 



