Life zones of central Europe
This decrease in temperature and increase in rainfall result in altitudinal zonation, where the land can be divided into life zones of similar climate and ecology, depending on elevation.
Of the high country, about half is utterly barren, consisting of snow fields, glaciers, bare rock, lakes and stream beds.
For a quarter of the year the flocks and herds are fed on the upper pastures, but the true limit of the wealth of a district is the number of animals that can be supported during the long winter, and while one part of the population is engaged in tending the beasts and in making cheese and butter, the remainder is busy cutting hay and storing up winter food for the cattle.
The undergrowth in the mixed beech forest is home to shrubs such as mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia),[13] alpine laburnum (Laburnum alpinum), broad-leaved spindle (Euonymus latifolius) as well as small shrubby plants such as blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus),[13] heather (Calluna vulgaris), scorpion senna (Hippocrepis emerus), and Daphne laureola.
Herbaceous plants in the forest include the wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella),[13] false lily of the valley (Maianthemum bifolium), liverwort (Hepatica nobilis), purple lettuce (Prenanthes purpurea), European goldenrod (Solidago virgaurea), sweet woodruff (Asperula odorata), Solomon's seal (Polygonatum multiflorum), and sanicle (Sanicula europaea).
The meadows also can contain species such as woodland geranium (Geranium sylvaticum), mountain buttercup (Ranunculus montanus), mountain clover (Trifolium montanum), great masterwort (Astrantia major), the columbine meadowrue (Thalictrum aquilegiifolium), Potentilla grandiflora, bearded bellflower (Campanula barbata), and poets' narcissus (Narcissus poeticus).
At higher elevation, there are two plants whose leaves look alike: poisonous white hellebore (Veratrum album) and yellow gentian (Gentiana lutea).
Very humid meadows will contain meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), great burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis), the whorled lousewort (Pedicularis verticillata) accompanied by moisture-loving grasses such as Poa nemoralis and Molinia caerulea.
The pastures, subjected to even stronger pressures, favor the emergence of tough species that the animals neglect, such as matgrass.
Wet places are the domain of the megaphorbs, characterized by tall plants (Adenostyles alliariae, Cicerbita alpina, Aconitum napellus, Thalictrum aquilegiifolium, Delphinium elatum, etc.).
Finally, in places where livestock stay for a long time, the abundantly smoky soil is very rich in nitrogen and is suitable for species such as Rumex alpinus, Chenopodium bonus-henricus, and Cirsium spinosissimum.
The spruce forest is found mainly in the lower part of the subalpine zone on siliceous or sometimes calcareous subsoil when the layer of humus is sufficiently thick and acidic.
The Swiss pine and larch forests are found at higher elevations, and are more open, which allows a much more varied flora to thrive despite harsher climatic conditions.
The plants that grow there are forced to adapt in order to survive: they thus develop long and strong rootsto better resist the wind and to extract water from the dry soil.
These plants often have a branching, creeping, deeply rooted rhizome that allows them to produce stems at several points (Trisetum distichophyllum, Crepis pygmaea).
Stabilized scree, especially those composed of small blocks that better hold the earth, generally evolves towards alpine meadows.
Given the extremely harsh climatic conditions of this zone, few plant species can find a favorable environment to thrive.
A specimen of glacier buttercup was found at the top of the Finsteraarhorn at an altitude of more than 4,200 metres (13,800 ft) In the glacial zone, the species distribution is very different between calcareous and siliceous rocks.
