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FLORA.
(63
rboto. Henrik Hesselman.
Vegetation from the Region of Birch Forest (Lappland).
which in the otherwise bald scenery seizes and delights the eye. The upper
part of the Alpine region is poor in species and scanty; and some few
flowering plants and a number of lichens go up to the eternal snow. The lower
part of the Alpine region is characterized by grayish white osier-beds, which
round streams and other moist spots attain a highly luxuriant development.
The Alpine heaths and the gray osier-beds bring the Scandinavian Alpine
vegetation near to the Arctic tundra.
The Region of the Birch Forest forms a belt of varying width and
range below the bare Alps. This region is most fully developed in the
extreme north of Sweden, where it attains a vertical range of 150—200
meters and a horizontal extent of some 30 kilometers; while in Dalarne
it attains a range of only 30 to 50 meters, and in the isolated alps of the
eastern parts of the region it is altogether lacking or but faintly developed.
This region is characterized by the Alpine birch (Betula odorato, †.
subalpina), which forms low, thin forests of trees with higher irregular
ramification. Its lower limit in northern Sweden lies at 400 m. above
sea-level; but it rises towards the south and in Dalarne goes up to 900 m.
above sea-level.
With the Alpine birch occur the aspen (Popilius tremula) and the rowan
(Sorbus aucuparia). The appearance and the composition of the birch-forests
vary. Where the soil is fertile and moist, and especially where it is calcareous,
the trees attain in sheltered situations a respectable height, while the ground
vegetation is rich and rank, formed of broad-leaved high-growing herbs, often
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