FLORA OF PALESTINE. 



The catalogue of the Flora has been compiled both iVoni my own Herba- 

 rium, comprising 1,400 species, formed by I\Ir. B. T. Lowne, who accom- 

 panied me as botanist in my expedition of 1863 — 4, and from the various 

 additions made by me in two subsequent journeys. The Herbariums of 

 the late W. Amherst Hayne, Esq., and of Rev. H. E. Fox and Rev. W. 

 Linton, have contributed several additions. The M.S. catalogue of the 

 Flora of Palestine, compiled by Mr. Hanbury and Sir Jos. Hooker, now 

 in the Herbarium at Kew, has been most kindly placed at my service by 

 Professor Oliver, F.R.S., to whom I am under the greatest obligation for 

 his generous assistance while revising my list by the aid of the Kew 

 Herbarium. \'ery many species have been added on the authority of 

 these catalogues, though unfortunately many of the older collectors have 

 omitted to mark the precise locality. But by far the most important 

 materials for the compilation of this catalogue are to be found in the 

 unrivalled work of M. Edmond Boissier, ' F/ora Orientalist of which I 

 have not hesitated unsparingly to avail myself. For carefulness of detail 

 in description, and for accuracy of statement as to geographical area, no 

 botanical writer has ever surpassed M. Boissier. In his later work, 

 ]M. Boissier has suppressed many of his own species described in his 

 ' Diagnosis ' and other earlier works, including them as local or climatic 

 varieties. I have generally followed his later decision ; but in some 

 instances, where the distinctive characters are easily recognisable, and the 

 species have been treated as distinct by several subsequent writers, I have 

 for convenience of reference retained the earlier synonymy. 



It is a question what should be the geographical limits of the Palestine 

 Flora. I have given a liberal interpretation, and have looked on ' the 

 Land of Promise ' rather than ' the Land of Possession ' as our area — i.e., 



