186 



The Horticulturist and Journal 



Those plants that struck me as new to us 

 who live further north are the Araucaria, or 

 Colymbea excelsa, which grows rapidly, and 

 flourishes in a situation fully exposed to the 

 sea at the Villa Gasteau, now called Les 

 Palmiers, at Nice. I estimated the height of 

 two of these perfect trees growing without 

 having lost a branch, and in the most vigorous 

 manner, at from 30 to 40 feet high. These 

 gardens, upon which a banker of the name of 

 Gasteau had lavished enormous sums of money 

 on works executed in the worst possible taste, 

 contain some of the finest points of view in the 

 neio-hborhood of Nice, and some of the rarest 

 trees. M. Gasteau having naturally failed, 

 the place was bought by a Dutchman, who is 

 dividing it into separate villas. I had fortu- 

 nately walked in at the open gate and seen the 

 juost of the garden, when I was told that vis- 

 itors were not allowed in, and of course re- 

 treated at once, and wrote a note to the pro- 

 prietor, asking his leave to walk through 

 again, as I wished to observe the height and 

 make sketches of some of these trees, but got 

 so peremptory a refusal that I can only allude 

 to the height of the Araucaria excelsas by 

 guess. One thing struck me as curious, that 

 wherever I saw the Araucaria imbricata, 

 which flourishes so well here, it seemed not to 

 flourish at all there, and the Colymbea Cun- 

 ninghami seemed also very struggling. The 

 Russeliajuncea grows in the Jardin Publique, 

 at Mentone, to about 12 feet high ; but a 

 rather similar plant, the Casuarina equiseti- 

 folia, seems to flourish at Cannes in a most 

 remarkable manner, growing 18 inches in the 

 year, and looking as flourishing as a young 

 Larch tree. In Algeria they grow into tim- 

 ber trees, I was surprised not to see the 

 Catalpa, which scents the air of Como, and 

 the Paulownia, of which I saw at Tours a 

 large tree covered with beautiful and fragrant 

 flowers, and both of which would, doubtless, 

 flourish on these shores of the Mediterranean. 

 The Australian Acacias grow to a great size. 

 Longifolia is the most common, and I saw at 

 Cannes the Camphor laurel in perfect health 

 and 12 feet high. 



Let us now turn to the shrubs, which are 



more or less of an exotic character with us. 

 and which strike the tourist as most remarka- 

 ble for beauty. First comes the Wigandia, 

 which is treated as an annual in the neighbor- 

 hood of Paris, and here as a greenhouse plant. 

 I saw plants of it 10 to 12 feet high, and 

 spreading over 15 feet, covered with its beau- 

 tiful purple flowers, and existing perennially, 

 although a very severe winter sometimes cuts 

 it down. Next comes Sparmannia Africana, 

 one of the most popular plants, both in gar- 

 dens and in pots for house decoration ; it is 

 quite hardy at Nice, and seen everywhere. 

 Then there are Crattegus, or Photinia glabra, 

 which grows 10 or 12 feet high in large bushes, 

 with beautiful foliage, varying from shades of 

 red w-hen young to deep green, and large 

 Laurustinus-like flowers of blushing white ; 

 Pittosporum Sinense, Ribes rosaeflora and 

 other varieties, Habrothamnus elegans, Ara- 

 lia papyrifera, Abutilon, Justicia, Salvia, a 

 pretty white shrub, called there Salvia Oceana, 

 not noticed as such in the Bon Jurdinier ; 

 Solanum marginatum, Ficus rubiginosa, An- 

 thyllis Barba-Jovis, Cyananthus, Pittosporum 

 undulatum and Heliotropes flourish peren- 

 nially in the interesting garden of Dr. Bennett, 

 Bear Mentone. The Anthemis Parthenoides, 

 which is used so much as a pot plant in Pans, 

 grows freely everywhere, and I saw a yellow 

 variety at Nice which I thought very pretty. 

 There is one great favorite in the villas about 

 Nice which I cannot admire. It is Cineraria 

 populifolia, which is something like a gigantic 

 ragweed. 



I shall just notice one other little plant 

 which strikes the stranger's eye in the country 

 about Toulon, the Everlasting, or Helichry- 

 sum orientale. One sees large fields care- 

 fully cultivated of this plant, which looks like 

 a common pink, only that the leaves are 

 whiter. This is cultivated largely to supply 

 the crowns that cover the graves in Pere la 

 Chaise and other French cemeteries, as an 

 emblem of lasting sorrow and immortality. 



Many of these plants would only attract the 

 notice of one accustomed to look for pleasure 

 in contemplating the beauties of every variety 

 of vegetable growth ; but the orange groves. 



