Appendix II: Phytogeography and Geology. 1075 
distance of about 18 miles and the line of the coast itself is not 
discernible till within 13 or 14 miles. Within the area no rock 
appears except the limestone of Alexandria which forms a low ridge 
in this part of the coast and extends westwards as a low line of 
hills parallel to the shore. Hast of Abukir it does not appear and 
the rest of the coast is formed of fine sand brought down partly 
by the Nile, on which are sand duwes formed by the northerly 
winds. The climatic conditions present two types since in winter those 
of the Mediterranean province extend over the whole of it, while in 
summer the Saharan type predominates except in a comperatively 
narrow belt near the coast'). The rainfall is heavy and a valuable 
crop of barley is cultivated by the Arabs on the belt of country 
lying near the shore of the Mediterranean and the ruins of numerous 
cisterns, dams and other ancient buildings show how extensively 
cultivation was formerly carried on by artificially storing the winter 
rainfall. 
Althoug interesting plants may be found in flower or fruit at 
nearly all seasons of the year, the flowering one par excellence may 
be said to begin at the end of December after the autumn and 
winter rains; the precocity and abundance of desert flowers naturally 
depends on whether the rains have begun early (November) and on 
the amount which has fallen, the average rainfall being a little 
under 22,5 cm. Among the earliest species in flower is the desert 
saffron (Colchicum Ritchii) very abundant. In the same localities 
and season (January) we see patches of sand covered with the 
“monk?s-cowl arum” (Arisarum vulgare var. Veslingii) striped with 
white green and purple, and, less commonly the Biarum Olivier with 
narrow wavy leaves. At the same time appears. on the sand Mal- 
colma pygmaea. Narzissus Tazelta is tolerably plentiful on the 
Lake side of the Khedivial railway”). On the sea-side the crown- 
anemone is still more abundant. At the end of January the frag- 
ment dwarf stock (Matthiola acaulis) begins to cover the waysides 
both E. and W. of the area. A. little later the ice plant, Mesembry- 
anthemum erystalliinum covers portions of the desert and open their- 
starry white flowers at noon. By the first weak in March the desert 
is already becoming gay with annuals amongst the earliest of which 
is the ubiquitous little Zrigonella maritima. One of the most showy 
desert plants occasionally found by the seashore, parasitic on the 
roots of the goosefoot family is the “golden broom rape” (Cistanche 
lutea) with dense clusters of large snapdragon like flowers of a 
1) Lyons: The physiography of the River Nile and its basin. — Cairo 1906. 
*) Blomfield: Wild Flowers around Alexandria in Bull. Alexandria Hortic. 
Soe. (1909) p. 4. 
68* 
