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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



descriptions of certain types of conditions which are frequently to be 

 met with. A classification of the various conditions of soil obtaining in 

 alpine regions is attempted by Schroeter,* but it is impossible here to 

 do more than to call attention to some of the most characteristic. 



The alpine meadow, which is mown twice, and sometimes three 

 times, for hay during the year hardly comes within the alpine zone as 

 understood by Dr. Christ ; but it produces such a variety of flowers 

 of the greatest beauty that it can hardly be passed by, more especially 

 as it very frequently lies in close proximity to the truly alpine or glacial 

 region. The typical alpine meadow is generally to be found at the 

 bottom of a valley in the high Alps. The soil is of a rich, black, peaty 

 character, formed by the decay of generations of plants or washed down 

 from the adjacent mountain sides. The humus thus formed is usually 

 of very considerable depth, and is supplied with moisture by innumerable 

 intersecting streams running down from the springs on the sides of the 

 mountain to join the glacier stream which flows down the middle of the 

 valley. The distribution of this natural supply of moisture is also 

 facilitated by artificial means. These meadows are, therefore, always 

 damp, and very frequently even marshy. The flora of the alpine 

 meadow is most abundant, consisting largely of such well-known British 

 plants as Campanula r o tun di folia, Ranunculus hulbosus, R. acris^ 

 Polygonum Bistorta, and Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum. In the 

 late autumn the meadow saffron, Colchicum autumnale, is one of the 

 commonest flowers of the alpine meadow. Trollius europaeus and 

 Veratrum album, several Silenes, Lychnis, and Geraniums are also of 

 very frequent occurrence. 



Above the alpine meadows we come to the high pastures. Here 

 the vegetation becomes more distinctively alpine, its character being 

 determined locally by the supply of moisture and the aspect. These 

 pastures stretch in steep grassy slopes, alternating with comparatively 

 level plateaux almost up to the foot of the glaciers. On the dry slopes 

 such plants as Antennaria tomentosa, Senecio incanus, Gnaphalium 

 dioicum, Poteniilla nivea, and P. frigida may be found, while Saxifraga 

 aizoides and S. stellaris, Aconitum Napellus, Petasites niveus, Pedicu- 

 laris recutita, and Caltha palustris may be taken as representative of the 

 plants growing on the banks of the many small streams which cut into 

 the pastures. In marshy places am.ong the sedges and rushes, the con- 

 spicuous white heads of the cotton grass will here and there indicate 

 the character of the ground and vegetation. Towards the upper limit of 

 the pastures, seams of rock break into the grassy slope, frequently 

 rising one above the other in terraces, so that the moisture from the 

 higher rocks drains down to the lower. In such cases the ground below 

 the rocks will afford appropriate conditions for the grow^th of the famous 

 " alpenrose " {Rhododendron ferrugineum), and associated with it 

 Vaccinium uliginosum, Empetrum nigrum and Azalea procumhens. The 

 upper reaches of the Val Varia, which leads dow^n from the Zwisch- 

 bergen Pass to the village of Simplon, is an excellent example of this. 

 * Schroeter, Pfianzenleben der Alpen, pp. 66, 67. 



