. Contributions from the Botanical Laboratory, vol. 9. Botany; Botany. 380 Vegetation of some Southern Frovmces of Soviet Russia Zone VII. Subalpine (1700 m.). Above Gvileti lies a subalpine region of great interest and beauty (1700- 2200 m.). Small trees, chief among wliich is the birch, alternate with flower- covered meadows bounded above by Rhododendron and alpine pastures. At Gvileti, Betida raddeana climbs to 2400 m. and gets down to 1700 m., occurring, therefore, in both the alpine and subalpine regions (PL XX, Phot. 7). The more typical birch of the alpine zone is Betula pubescens. I am
. Contributions from the Botanical Laboratory, vol. 9. Botany; Botany. 380 Vegetation of some Southern Frovmces of Soviet Russia Zone VII. Subalpine (1700 m.). Above Gvileti lies a subalpine region of great interest and beauty (1700- 2200 m.). Small trees, chief among wliich is the birch, alternate with flower- covered meadows bounded above by Rhododendron and alpine pastures. At Gvileti, Betida raddeana climbs to 2400 m. and gets down to 1700 m., occurring, therefore, in both the alpine and subalpine regions (PL XX, Phot. 7). The more typical birch of the alpine zone is Betula pubescens. I am not quite certain in regard to a third kind of birch, B, pubescens var. raddeana, occurring at Gvileti. It appears to differ from both the pubescens and raddeana species and therefore was identified as a third form, though it may be identical with one or the other of the two species after which it is named. An interesting tree, of which I saw only one specimen in these higher mountain valleys, is the maple, Acer trautvetteri, which was growing at 2000 m. Eadde says that this species may reach the tree line. Here at Gvileti it is near the tree line, but I never found it there in the Minor Caucasus, where it is very abundant, occurring just below the open subalpine woods of birch. Sorbus aucuparia begins to make its appearance at 1600 m., getting up into the alpine region at 2400 m. (PL XX, Phot. 7). This small tree is of very wide distribution in the mountains of the Soviet Union from the Crimea to Eastern Turkestan. It is a companion to the birch. Whether to regard the two as alpine or subalpine is purely a matter of defining the limits of these zones in that particular region where we happen to be at the time. In the Crimea, neither of these two high altitude trees plays a prominent part in the plant life of the mountains, they occur only sparingly, while in the Minor (South) Caucasus (Bakuriani) they grow in great abundance, form the tree line, and on certain slopes occur at
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