a. (sb.) [ad. L. subalpīnus: see SUB- 12 and ALPINE. Cf. F. subalpin.]
1. Belonging to regions lying about the foot of the Alps.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Subalpine, under the Alps.
1829. Murchison, in Philos. Mag., V. 402. The tertiary or subalpine deposits, which to the west of the Brenta are so much traversed by basaltic and trap rocks.
1833. Lyell, Princ. Geol., III. 45. The fossil shells … of many of the Subalpine formations, on the northern limits of the plain of the Po.
1842. W. C. Taylor, Anc. Hist., xiii. § 1 (ed. 3), 365. Subalpine Italy received the name of Gaul from the Gallic hordes that settled in the northern and western districts.
1907. A. Lang, Hist. Scot., IV. xvi. 412. A miserable little sub-Alpine inn.
b. sb. An inhabitant of such regions. rare.
1838. G. S. Faber, Inquiry, 479. Native Piedmontise Subalpines. Ibid., 503. The Subalpines or Vallenses.
2. Partly alpine in character or formation; pertaining to or characteristic of elevations next below that called alpine; belonging to the higher slopes of mountains (of an altitude of about 4,000 to 5,500 feet).
1833. Hooker, in Smith’s Eng. Flora, V. I. 71. Trees and rocks, in stony and subalpine countries.
1839. De la Beche, Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. i. 3. The hills and cliffs bordering the Bristol Channel … forming a coast remarkable for its general elevation and the sub-alpine character of some of its valleys.
1858. Irvine, Brit. Plants, 78. The alpine and sub-alpine plants.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 242. Wet subalpine limestone rocks of York and Durham. Ibid. (1886), Flora Brit. India, V. 57. Subalpine and Alpine Himalaya.
