520 



ZONES AND REGIONS [Pt. Ill, Sect. II 



All these cultivated plants together cannot in any way give an idea of 

 the native Mediterranean woodland, whether as forest, maquis, or garigue, 

 as so many of their components occur only in the wild state. This for 

 instance is true of the numerous species of Cistus, which are very common, 

 particularly on silicious soil, and which, owing to their large white or 



carmine flowers, are among the 

 most beautiful native ornamental 

 plants of Mediterranean coun- 

 tries ; their leaves are sometimes 

 leathery and shiny, sometimes 

 viscous with resinous exuda- 

 tions, sometimes very hairy, and 

 then of softer texture. In no 

 constituent of the maquis, how- 

 ever, is the sclerophyllous type 

 more pronounced than in such 

 inconspicuous and very common 

 species as Daphne Gnidium (Fig. 

 a87,i),Phillyrea media (Fig. 287, 

 4), Cneorum tricoccon (Fig. 276), 

 Globularia Alypum (Fig. 287, 

 6), with their rigid, narrow 

 leaves, which place themselves 

 obliquely or nearly parallel to 

 the direction of the rays of light. 

 The needle-shape is assumed by 

 the evergreen cladode in the 

 rarely absent Asparagus acuti- 

 folius, and by the leaf in the 

 species of Erica, which are partly 

 confined to silicious soil, and 

 among which is Erica multiflora 

 (Fig. 287, 5), and also E. ar- 

 borea, which is especially pro- 

 minent owing to its almost 

 arboreous growth. Among these 

 typical sclerophyllous plants ap- 

 pear a few of somewhat different appearance, such as Pistacia Lentiscus 

 (Fig. 286), belonging to the sole evergreen woody genus with pinnate leaves 

 in the Mediterranean countries ; its deciduous and also pinnate-leaved ally, 

 Pistacia Terebinthus ; the aphyllous Spartium junceum ; or yet again, the 

 commonest representative of the few climbing plants, Smilax aspera, which, 

 however, by its stiff, persistent leaves approaches the sclerophyllous type. 



FlG. 2S5. Sclerophyllous flora of the Mediterranean. 

 Cistus crispus. Natural size. After Reichenbach. 



