Alpine Plants
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Alpine Plants. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the name given to those plants whose habitat is in the 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 more. 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.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a general name for plants of an arctic character. The plants of Switzerland, from an elevation of 6,000 feet upward, were called alpine by early botanists. Similar plants found on the upper slopes of mountains, as on the Andes from 12,000 feet upward, in Lapland, southern Patagonia, and in arctic countries generally, have the same characteristics and are often identical. They consist for the most part of mosses, flowering plants that develop in a few weeks, some of great brilliancy, dwarf willows two or three inches high, etc. The general term, "alpine," has been extended to all plants of this sort. 2026 Editor's Note: Alpine plants became the front line of a threat this entry could not foresee: as the climate warms , these cold-adapted specialists must climb higher to survive, and the highest ones are running out of mountain — making them living gauges of a warming world. (Ed: BR 2026-07-02)