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Orontes and Leontes, grow Platanus orientalis, several species 
of Salix, and many herbaceous plants calling to mind the gardens 
and fields about the great cities. In the arid plains at a distance 
from the water-courses, after the luxuriant vegetation of spring 
following the winter rains, the parched’ soil is possessed by such 
plants as Sterigma sulphureum; Althzea rufescens (found also in the 
desert); Haplophyllum fruticosum (found between Hems and 
Palmyra); Astragalus Rousseanus, Astragalus demi-acanthus (a 
species with long thorns); Peganum Harmala; Centaurea dumulosa; 
Phlomis Armeniaca, Stachys nivea, Marrubium cuneatum; Euphorbia 
Szowitzii and E. lanata; Stipa Eherenbergii (found on the road from 
Hama to Palmyra). 
6. The valley of the Jordan and the Desert Sea. ‘This strange 
valley, far below the adjacent Mediterranean, with its mysterious sea 
of azure water, adds to the arctic, temperate table land, and sub-tro- 
pical flora of Palestine a tropical element.. Calotropis procera 
and Salvadora Persica are Indian plants, equally common in upper 
Egypt and Nubia. In his paper on the Dead Sea vegetation, Mr. 
B. T. Lowne remarks, “On examining the list of plants which I 
found in this region, it will be seen that the flora, although very 
different from the flora of the rest of Palestine, is essentially. Med- 
iterranean in type. Its affinities however, are all with the flora of 
Northern Africa, especially with the desert floras of upper Egypt 
and Nubia. It will also be found to be closely related with that of 
Aden in the south, and the Canaries in the west * * of the 94 
species collected by myself in the south of the Dead Sea valley 29 
or 30 only are European plants. On the other hand over 50 species 
are decidedly African, not extending into Europe. Between 30 and 
and 40 of the species of the southern Ghor extend into Sind, and 
about 13 are found in the Canary Islands; this appears to me to be 
a fact worthy of note, since these countries are upon the eastern 
and western limits of the North African desert-flora. Eleven of 
the most characteristic plants of the southern extremity of the Dead 
Sea valley are common to it and to the peninsula of Aden; and . 
considering how very limited the floras of the two localities are, this 
is not an unimportant number.” 
Of the characteristic plants of this region we have Cleome 
trinervia, Fragaria Sinaitica, Mathiolia oxyceras, Nitraria tridentata, 
Retama retam, Acacia Séyal, Salicornia fruticosa, Moringa aptera, 
Calotropis procera, Salix octandra, Salvadora Persica, 
7. The Syrian Desert This region, which enjoys a rain-fall of 
perhaps ten or fifteen inches, is no desert during the winter months, 
but a most luxuriant landscape of grasses and other forage plants 
which afford subsistence to the large flocks and herds of the Bedawin. 
Its flora has affinities partly with that of Coele-Syria, and partly with 
that of Arabia Petrea, The extreme difficulty of travelling through 
this most inhospitable waste has prevented the adequate study of the 
most interesting flora. M. Blanche of Tripoli, Syria, and Prof. 
Paine of the Palestine Exploring Society, have collected part of the 
plants of the table land, the former in a journey from Hems to 
Palmyra, the latter in his long residence in Northern Moab in 
° 
