Alpine plants (or alpine flora ) - in the general sense, plants growing in the mountains so high above sea level that the conditions in which they are reflected in their shape and internal structure; in the narrow sense, plants spread in the mountains of Central Europe above the border of trees , above 1700-1800 m above sea level .
Features of the development, composition and distribution of alpine plants
Plant growth at altitudes above 1700 meters above sea level is expressed mainly in the underdevelopment of the stem , unusually bright color of the flowers and the predominance of plants with twisted evergreen leaves . The fact that different characteristics of alpine plants is a result of adaptation to the environment is confirmed by Bonnier cultures, which received seeds from the seeds of flat plants (for example, Helianthus tuberosus - earth pear ), sown in the Alps and Pyrenees at an altitude of more than 2000 meters, in the first generation having a general view of alpine plants.
In composition, the alpine flora is a mixture of plants, the closest relatives of which are found in various countries, but in general it is more related to the flora of the pre-polar and polar latitudes , although it is usually richer than the latter.
Japanese Alps
Of the 294 alpine species, 64 are found in the Arctic belt , and of the rest, most come from the temperate zone of northern Asia and only a few have their homeland in the coastal region of North America . The remains of the northern alpine flora, observed in parts of the north of Germany remote from the sea , indicate that during the ice age, the alpine flora was directly connected with the Arctic . This is also indicated by the presence of a large number of such species that were in the Alps back in the Tertiary period , and the presence precisely among these species of a large number of common species with the Arctic species.
Crist has a purely alpine 182 species, but many of them are common from the Carpathians to the Pyrenees , south on the mountains of the Mediterranean islands and east to the Caucasus .
Alpine Plant Cultivation
Alpine plants are successfully cultivated in botanical gardens , they are used to create alpine slides . In this case, it is necessary to put the plants in conditions that are closest to those in which they are in their natural place of growth. It is best to cultivate plants on artificially arranged slopes, when poured which the main attention should be paid to the particular tendency of these plants to calcareous rocks .
Between calcareous artificial rays, earth is poured onto which alpine plants preferably grow. Further, good lighting is needed, although too bright rays of the midday sun should beware. It is necessary to constantly maintain moisture , continuously watering the soil. During the winter, these plants are shrouded in a thick layer of snow. Finally, the last and very essential condition, once again falsified with the normal conditions of existence of these plants: it is necessary in the spring to keep as long as possible from melting the snow cover under which the plants wintered in order to delay their early development.
Literature
- The article used materials from a twenty-volume edition of the Great Encyclopedia edited by S. N. Yuzhakov.
- Alpine plants // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.