396 THE NATURAL HISTORY REVIEW. 



of nine feet, or more, with a stem IJ inches diameter, finely-cut 

 leaves, and large umbels of yellow flowers in a terminal corymb. 

 This singular plant occurs socially, and likes a poor sandy soil. It 

 withers away with the first heats of summer, leaving only its dry stem, 

 which is used to make a rude kind of chair, much used by the inha- 

 bitants. By July, nothing of it is left ; the stem, which has become 

 quite dry, breaks to pieces and utterly disappears. 



The trees of Cyprus are chiefly Conifers, for the oaks are either 

 under- shrubs, or are confined to the higher hills. The plane hides 

 itself in the shady valleys. The commonest pine on the low levels is 

 the Aleppo pine {Pinus maritmia or Salepensis), which, no doubt, 

 once on a time, clothed with forest a large part of the island, but which 

 now grows scattered, or forms small woods on the less accessible 

 slopes. Next in abundance, in the eastern part of the island, is Cu- 

 pressus Jiorizonialis, which forms small woods on the northern chain of 

 hills, and at one time, probably, covered with forest their southern 

 slope, as Pinus onaritima did the northern. The wood is much valued 

 for its hardness and perfume, and the tree is therefore much sought 

 after. Juniperus phoenicea is also abundant on the desert plains of the 

 eastern part of the island. 



All these trees extend from the sea level up to 3000 feet, and the 

 Pinus maritima up to 4000 feet, where it overlaps the lowest level 

 of another pine, P. Laricio. This pine extends from that elevation to 

 the top of the higher hills, and forms extensive, though open forests, 

 which give a dark green colour to the western mountains of the island, 

 as seen from the sea. Trees of 200 and 300 years are common ; 

 younger ones are scattered, and seedlings a rarity. Few of the trees 

 are uninjured, and great numbers are destroyed for the purpose of 

 obtaining the pitch and tar by an exceedingly rude process. The 

 islanders have no saws, and lop off the branches of the trees for their 

 purposes, leaving the trunk standing, which it is too laborious to cut 

 down. Near the summit of Troodos, aud above P. Laricio, another 

 conifer, Juniperus foetidissima, Willd. occurs. The summit itself is 

 bare and dry, and produces only a few herbaceous plants along the 

 water channels. 



In addition to the ordinary products of cultivation, the only re- 

 markable products of the island of Cyprus are, the St. John's bread, 

 Ladanum, Storax, and Mastic, regarding all of which we find in the 

 work before us very curious details, an abstract of which may be in- 

 teresting to our readers. The Carob, or St. John's bread {Ceratonia 



