CHAPTER VIII.

Our glance at the botany of the Alps must necessarilybe even more brief than at the zoology. The subject mayconveniently, though not scientifically, be treated under thefive following heads:—(1) deciduous trees; (2) coniferoustrees;—these two forming pretty nearly the leaf-wood andneedle-wood of the Germans ; (3) brushwood; (4) flowers ; (5)ferns, mosses, and lichens. The statistics contained in thissection are in great part taken from Tschudi, but I am ableto confirm almost all of them from personal observation. Itis of course only possible to speak in general terms whenattempting to fix either the upper or lower limit of any plant,for so much depends upon local circumstances. The aspect ofthe site, its position with reference to prevailing winds, thenature of the soil, the height of the neighbouring'mountains,and numbers of like causes may enable a particular plant toflourish at a level in one neighbourhood many hundred feetabove what it can reach in another.

The majority of the deciduous trees can hardly be said tobelong to the Alpine region, though of course they clothe