Abstract
Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland in their Essay on the Geography of Plants discuss what was known in 1807 about the elevational limits of vascular plants in the Andes, North America, and the European Alps and suggest what factors might influence these upper elevational limits. Here, in light of current knowledge and techniques, I consider which species are thought to be the highest vascular plants in twenty mountain areas and two polar regions on Earth. I review how one can try to compare elevational limits in different parts of Earth. I discuss recent advances in high-elevation plant ecology that would surely have fascinated von Humboldt such as the special snow-roots in some snow-bed plants and the coldest place on Earth where a vascular plant is growing. I briefly outline an ignored von Humboldt legacy, Mendelssohn’s Humboldt Cantata. In conclusion I summarise the foundations and legacies that von Humboldt created for global high-elevation ecology and biogeography.
Highlights
Mountains have long fascinated people who have been awestruck by their beauty and majesty
Von Humboldt and Bonpland’s discoveries of vascular plants growing near to 4600 m in the Andes, and of Joseph Hooker and others finding vascular plants occurring up to 6000 m in the Himalaya, laid the foundations for documenting and comparing the high-elevational limits of vascular plants in different mountain areas globally: a topic keenly initiated by von Humboldt (1817, 1845-1862) and von Humboldt and Bonpland (1807)
High-elevation limits of vascular plants has accumulated since von Humboldt and Bonpland discussed elevational distributions and limits of vascular plants globally
Summary
Mountains have long fascinated people who have been awestruck by their beauty and majesty. The highest known vascular plant in Norway is Ranunculus glacialis growing at 2370 m (61°38’N, 8°18’E), closely followed by Saxifraga oppositifolia at 2350 m.
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