Alpine Plants
the name given to those plants whose habitat is in the more. neighborhood of the snow, on mountains partly covered with it all the year round. The mean height for the alpine plants of central Europe is about 6,000 feet; but it rises in parts of the Alps and in the Pyrenees to 9,000, or even The high grounds clear of snow among these mountains present a very well marked flora, the general characters of the plants being a low, dwarfish habit, a tendency to form thick turfs, stems partly or wholly woody, and large, brilliantly colored and often very sweetsmelling flowers. In the Alps of middle Europe the eye is at once attracted by gentians, saxifrages, rhododendrons, primroses of different kinds, etc.