ALPINE PLANTS IN THEIR NATIVE HAUNTS. 



67 



Next above the pastures come the moraines and scree slopes. The 

 moraines as seen to-day vary considerably in their composition, some 

 being formed almost entirely of stones and boulders of varying sizes, 

 and others having some of the finely-ground glacier deposit mixed up 

 with the coarser materials which the glacier forming the moraine has 

 transported either on its surface or embedded in the ice. The finer 

 glacial deposit consists of rock powder ground by the glacier in passing 

 over its rocky bed, and containing no organic matter. There is a special 

 moraine flora which passes by imperceptible degrees into that of the 

 alpine pasture, the flora of the old moraine representing the inter- 

 mediate step. Typical moraine flowers are Epilohium Fleischeri and 

 Linaria alfina, but many plants which appear here are also to be found 

 on scree and debris which have fallen from the mountain side. Dr. 

 Christ speaks of these as Gerollpflanzen (scree plants)."^ He enumerates 

 Thlaspi rotundi folium, Hutchinsia alpina, Cerastium latifolium, 

 Geum reptans, Aranicum scorpiodes, Arenaria biflora, and Cam- 

 panula cenisia as being typical plants coming within this category. 

 Nothing could offer a more desolate and barren appearance than stretches 

 of scree and moraine. Moisture there appears to be none, but where 

 plants thrive the ear can frequently detect the trickling of water among . 

 the stones. Most of these scree and moraine plants possess roots deve- 

 loped to a remarkable degree, and by means of them fasten themselves 

 securely on the loose substratum and make use of all the available 

 moisture. The form of growth of Geum reptans is particularly striking. 

 It bears a very strong resemblance to Geum mantanum, but produces 

 stolons like a strawberry, and by means of these stolons secures a 

 method of propagating itself particularly well adapted to the character 

 of substratum on which it habitually thrives. 



Last of all we come to the plants which grow at the highest altitudes 

 on the stony plateaux and ridges below, and even among, the snow 

 fields. These plants Dr. Christ calls Gratpflanzen (Arete plants).! 

 Here we find Gentiana havarica, G. hrachyphylla, Eritrichium nanum, 

 Androsace glacialis, Ra?iunculus glacialis, Saxifraga Androsace, S. 

 caesia, and S. hryoides. Of these plants Ranunculus glacialis has been 

 found at a greater altitude than any other plant in the Alps. I believe 

 that I am right in saying that it has been met with at an altitude of 

 14,000 feet, while Achillea atrata, Saxifraga muscoides, S. hryoides, S. 

 biflora, S. moschata, Androsace glacialis, and Gentiana hrachajphylla 

 have been found at altitudes between 13,000 and 14,000 feet. At such 

 altitudes, however, only isolated specimens are met with. I have my- 

 self found Androsace glacialis in great quantities on the Col d'e Gietroz 

 at an altitude of 10,500 feet, on the very edge of the vast snow field 

 of the Gietroz glacier. Saxifraga caesia I have also encountered on the 

 Val d'lsere side of the Col de Galise at an altitude of nearly 10,000 feet, 

 and on the Val Savaranche side of the Grand Paradis at an altitude of 

 10,500. At this altitude large colonies of these very high alpines may 

 frequently be met with. They grow on shaly ridges and plateaux, 



* Dr. Christ, op. cit. pp. 316-18. f Ibid. p. 319. 



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