ae in ae iS Pt Sai 
A436 * Sipadiisal and Physioligical Botany, 
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clusters of flowers, often of gigantic size. The eighth iy 1 
last zone, that of Alpine herbs, extends from the elevation - 2, 
of 4,500 metres to the limits of perpetual snow. Here are 
found chiefly low-growing perennial plants with woody. 
roots, a small amount of foliage, and comparatively large | op 
brightly-coloured flowers; and almost all the herbaceous 
plants are marked by containing resinous and bitter substances. | 
The Alps and other mountains of Central Europe pos-_ 
sess, on the other hand, only six phyto-geographical zones. 
The zone of fruit-trees, that of the spurs of the moun- e 
tains, rises on an average to about 660 metres. The apple f 
and the grape-vine usually ascend to this elevation, while the — : 
walnut reaches as high as to 1,000 metres. Inthis zonethe ~ 
vegetation of the plain is predominant; the woods consist 
mainly of beeches, birches, alders, larches, and pines, and 
the upper limit of the oak occurs here. The zone of beeches, 
or the lower mountain zone, extends in the Alps to a heat | 
of 1,500 metres, in the Sudetes of Silesia to 1,000, and in the ~ 
Hartz mountains only to 600 metres. The wil the syca- 
more, the service, the hazel-nut, the wild cherry, and many 
herbaceous plants, such as species of Lamz¢um, Plantago, Ar- 
temista, Taraxacum, Asperula, and Chrysanthemum, attain 7 ; 
their upper limit here, and disappear with the beech. At the . 
same time we reach the lower limit of Rhedodendron, — 
Gentiana, Primula, &c. ‘The zone of pines, or the upper 
mountain region, reaches in Switzerland an elevation of ~ 
1,800, in the Sudetes of 1,500, and in the Hartz mountains of me 
1,000 metres. Here we have the upper limit of the — 
spruce fir and larch, while the Rhododendrons attain their 
maximum development. Pinus Mughus and Cembra form 
great forests in this zone of the Alps, extending alog F 
into the next in succession, the lower Alpine region, — | 
ascends to the upper limit of Punus Mughus, an clevatigul 
of about 2,300 metres. In the granitic Alps of Sri ie 
this tree is often replaced by the green alder. — also” 
the highest limit of animal life in the Alps; onl vies Ww 
