158 86. GRAMINA. 



the German authors : these gi'asses grow on the very 

 summit of the liighest momitains." It is presumed that 

 the Avena ijlano-culmis, of the above j)assage, is the 

 Avena ali^ina treated in this work under A. pratensis ; — 

 that the Aira laevigata is the Aira alpina ; — but what the 

 alleged Phleum IVIichelii is, still remains to be deteiToined. 

 Can it be the Alopecurus alpestris, to be jDresently men- 

 tioned under A. alpinus below ? True, the figure in 

 English Botany does not represent an Alopecvu'us tech- 

 nically ; but it bears that fii'st-glance resemblance to my 

 supposed A. alpestris, which may suggest the possibility 

 of Don having seen the one, and somehow substituted 

 the other for it. 



1277. AXOPECUEUS ALPINUS, Sm. 



Area ************** 15* 17. 



South limit in Perth, Forfar, Aberdeen. 



North limit in Ross, Moray. 



Estimate of provinces 2. Estimate of counties 5. 



Latitude 56 — 58. Highland tj^e of distribution. 



Arctic region. Midarctic — Superai'ctic zones- 

 Descends to 700 yards, in East Highlands. 



Ascends to 1200 yards, in the same province. 



Range of mean annual temperature 40 — 34. 



Native. Paludal, Uliginal. The counties above named 

 are all that at present are known to produce this arctic 

 species, hitherto perhaps quite unknown on the Continent 

 of Europe. Like the Phleum alj)inum, its associate in 

 several stations, this one also descends nearly or quite 

 into the inferarctic zone. I have specunens in my herba- 

 rium, collected in Canlochen glen, Forfarshire, so inter- 

 mediate between A. alpinus and A. pratensis, that I 



