n. Literally crooked forest; the low wind-contorted forest at timberline.
Krummholz is the name given to dwarfed and stunted trees that occupy environments characterized by intense solar radiation, high winds, excessive salts, and/or large diurnal temperature fluctuations.
Ger: "twisted wood"] The dwarfish, bonsai-esque trees that grow at the treeline.
G. "twisted wood"] - bonsai-like dwarf trees that grow at treeline. massif
Scrubby, dwarfish growth of trees, often forming a distinctive zone at the tree line of mountains.
growth form assumed by tree species at the upper treeline or in the alpine zone; characterized by a creeping and multi-stemmed growth pattern due to desiccation and physical damage caused by wind and blowing ice crystals near the upper treeline; the same species grows as an erect, single-stemmed tree at lower elevation.
The stunted and gnarled woodlands characteristic of forest margins at high altitudes and high latitudes. The dwarfing, distortion and, in extreme conditions, the prostrate habit of trees are a result of the combined effects of wind and cold.
