5i6 



ZONES AND REGIONS [Pt. Ill, Sect. II 



2. SCLEROPHYLLOUS WOODLAND IN MEDITERRANEAN 



COUNTRIES. 



The best known districts inhabited by sclerophyllous woods are the 

 coasts of the Mediterranean Sea 1 , yet they now hardly anywhere afford an 



Fig. 281. Sclerophyllous llora of the Mediterranean. Quercus Ilex. After Flahault. 



untransformed picture of the original vegetation. Wide tracts when viewed 

 from a distance appear to be almost bare of plants, as the pale dusty scrub, 

 which meagrely covers the ground, differs very little from it in colour. 

 Such waste tracts, in South France termed ' garigitcs,' usually occur only on 

 calcareous soil, and represent the remains of former forests in which the 



1 The best works on this subject are those of Flahault (see list of literature). Grisebach 

 has a very attractive description in Die Vegetation der Erde, Bd. I, p. 240, drawn from 

 his personal observations. 



