Arve or Zirbel) limit and European Larch (Larix decidua) limit, 2,000 m, some specimens up to 2,850 m, South Slope. Tree line and Krummholz zone or ecotone (stunted subalpine bushes), Sub-alpine meadow and Alpine climate. Alpine zone, 2,000 - 3,000 m (East Alps), Montane grasslands and shrublands. Mountain Pine or Mugo Pine (Pinus mugo) limit. Alpine meadows just used in the warm season. Snow zone, above 3,000 m (East Alps), alpine desert, scree, permafrost and above snow line. Roughly one quarter of the land lying between the summits of the Alps is available for cultivation. Of this low country, about one half may be vineyards and grain fields, while the remainder produces forage and grass. Of the high country, about half is utterly barren, consisting of snow fields, glaciers, bare rock, lakes and stream beds. The other half is divided between forest and pasture, and the product of this half largely supports the relatively large population. 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. Submontane and montane zones These zones contain both mixed beech-fir forests and hay meadows. The beech forest occurs in the humid climates of the pre-Alps but disappears in the central massifs, which are drier and have a more continental climate. The forest is also found in the Southern Alps on north-facing slopes. The beech woods of the Alps are rarely pure and the beech is often found there associated with white fir (Abies alba), spruce (Picea abies) and various hardwoods such as the sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus), and Norway maple (Acer platanoides). The undergrowth in the mixed beech forest is home to shrubs such as mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia), alpine laburnum (Laburnum alpinum), broad-leaved spindle (Euonymus latifolius) as well as small shrubby plants such as blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), heather (Calluna vulgaris), scorpion senna (Hippocrepis emerus), and Daphne laureola. Herbaceous plants in the forest include the wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella), false lily of the valley (Maianthemum bifolium), liverwort (Hepatica nobilis), purple lettuce (Prenanthes purpurea), European goldenrod (Solidago virgaurea), sweet woodruff (Asperula odorata), Solomon's