2o6 FAUNA AND FLORA OF PALESTINE. 



have comprised the whole country from the Wady el Arish and Petra up 

 to the Orontes valley at Hamath as within our limits. If a plant occurs 

 north of Petra, or by the El Arish, we may be pretty certain that it will 

 be found in the southern wilderness and plateau ; and no botanist has yet 

 exhaustively worked Southern Judaea. With the exception of the district 

 close to Gaza, it has only been .skimmed ; and the following pages will show 

 how many species belonging to the Arabian Flora rest their claims to 

 insertion on Gaza alone, as their only known Palestine habitat. So north- 

 wards the Bukaa supplies a great number of species, which we may be 

 certain will be found, when looked for, further south. To the eastward, 

 again, we have a great volcanic region, which has not been even skimmed 

 by the botanical collector, besides the whole of Gilead, possessing by far 

 the richest Flora of the whole region, and which has never been worked 

 except by a hurried and passing traveller. It is to the east of Jordan that 

 we must look for our principal future additions to the Flora of Palestine ; 

 and there lies a rich field for any enterprising young botanist who is not 

 afraid of Bedouin. 



I have endeavoured to give the geographical area of each species as 

 briefly as possible. The letter ' P.' after the locality given implies that the 

 species is, so far as known, peculiar to Palestine. Where a Palestine 

 locality is given and no ' P.' follows, the plant inhabits other parts of the 

 Oriental region. 



The Oriental region is taken to comprise all the countries bordering 

 on the Mediterranean from Greece and Egypt eastwards to the frontiers 

 of India — i.e., Greece, Southern Turkey, Lower Egypt, Arabia Petrc'ea, 

 Asia Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Persia, and Afghanistan. 



Whenever a species extends beyond these limits, its further extension 

 is given after the word 'Area.' 



Thus : 



' Rims coriaria. L. Sp. 3 79. 



' Generally distributed. Area, Mediterranean region ' — 



implies that it is found generally in Palestine, in the Oriental region given 

 above, and also in the countries bordering on the Mediterranean west of 

 Greece and Egypt. 



