A PASSING GLANCE AT THE FLORA OF PALESTINE. 193 
traordinary profusion of stones, covering the ground everywhere, 
seemed to us an indication of very miserable soil and very slovenly 
farming, accustomed as we were to a very different state of things 
in Scotland; but in reality, without these stones covering the 
fields, cultivation would be almost impossible in that arid land ; 
for the stones give the necessary shade to the roots of the plants, 
and enable them to defy the scorching sun ; and most abundant 
and luxuriant crops spring up in these apparently desolate stony 
wildernesses. Labiates and Leguminous plants still abound, as 
they have always abounded; and these orders probably contain a 
larger proportion of nectar than any others. And these yield by 
their foliage the abundance of milk, and by their blossoms the 
abundance of honey, for which the country has always been 
famous. ‘ 
Cryptogamic plants are nowhere a feature in the Palestine flora. 
Ferns are extremely scarce. In only a few places, such as the 
damp shady crevices of the walls around the Pools of Solomon, 
among the dripping rocks of the Robber’s Valley between 
Bethel and Singil, and on the sides of Gerizim, did I observe 
the Adiantum Capillus-Veneris in any quantity or luxuriance, 
although it occurs in many places all over the country in a small 
and stuntedform. The most common Fern is the Ceterach, which 
grows everywhere on limestone rocks, and is particularly abun- 
dant by the wayside from Bethlehem to Hebron, Here and there 
I found a few tufts of the Cheilanthes fragrans, which used to be 
common in the Riviera, but is now almost extinct there. On the 
ruins of Ephesus I gathered splendid specimens. The Péeris cretica 
occurs in a few places, as it does in the vallons of Nice, and in 
some parts of Southern Italy, but it is very rare. In the driest 
situations among walls and rocks our own black-stalked Spleen- 
wort flourished exceedingly ; and on the shady banks crept the 
fronds of the Selaginella denticulata, assuming the most varied 
hues, from the deepest green to the brightest scarlet. 
I was greatly disappointed in regard to the Lichens and Mosses. 
They are almost wanting in the flora of Palestine. Only a few 
species appear at the foot of Hermon and in the woods of 
Lebanon, What kinds I observed were the common species of 
our own country, or at least of the south of Europe. The Riviera, 
dry as it is, is much richer in this class of Cryptogamic plants. 
