172 HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TREES. PART Ie 
fruit, of a most delicious flavour. These trees attain the height of 100 ft., with 
straight trunks of 40 ft. and upwards. Phoenix dactylifera, and Platanus 
orientalis, are also frequent. “ The Turks,” Dr. Walsh observes, “ on the birth 
. of a son, plant a platanus, as they do a cypress on the death of one. In the 
court of the seraglio is a venerable tree of this species, which, tradition says, 
was planted by Mahomet II., after the taking of Constantinople, to com- 
memorate the birth of his son, Bajazet II.; the trunk of which is 50 ft. in 
circumference. There is another, of more enormous size, at Buyuk-dere, on the 
Bosphorus: it stands in a valley, and measures 45 yards in circumfer- 
ence! It, in fact, now consists of fourteen large trees, growing in a circle from 
the same root, but separating at some distance from the ground. The Turks 
sometimes encamp here; and the Ben-Bashee pitches his tents in the centre 
of this tree of trees.” 
Cistus crispus, créticus, and salvizefolius cover all the hills of the Archipelago 
and Sea of Marmora. All of them have the hypocistus growing on their 
roots, a succulent parasite of a rich red colour, described by Dioscorides ; 
Vitex A’gnus-castus, Néerium Oleander, Quércus ’gilops, Q. coccifera, and 
Q. Taizin var. pubéscens, Pinus Pinaster var. maritima, and P. Pinea, La- 
vandula Stce‘chas, Riscus racemosus, K6lreutéria paniculata, and a number of 
others. Bixus baledricus grows wild on all the rocky surfaces both of Euro- 
pean and of Asiatic Turkey, and the wood is sent to England in large quan- 
tities for the use of the wood-engraver, though it is found greatly inferior to 
that of the Baxus sempervirens. This information respecting the trees and 
shrubs in the neighbourhood of Constantinople is taken from a very interesting 
paper on the subject, by Dr. Robert Walsh, which will be found in the Trans- 
actions of the Horticultural Society of London for 1824, and in the Gardener’s 
Magazine, vol. i. p. 293. 
The ligneous vegetation of the Ionian Islands is given by Pouqueville and 
Olivier, and resembles that of Greece generally. Whether any foreign species 
have been introduced, since these islands came under the protection of the 
British government, we have been unable to ascertain. 
CHAP AY- 
OF THE TREES AND SHRUBS OF ASIA, AFRICA, AMERICA, AND AUSTRA= 
LIA, WHICH ARE SUITABLE FOR TEMPERATE CLIMATES. 
In our notice of the ligneous flora of these countries, we shall confine 
ourselves entirely to such species as are known, or are supposed, to be suitable 
for enduring the open air in Britain; and, as in the preceding chapter, we 
shall chiefly confine ourselves to giving lists compiled from local fioras. We 
shall take the different countries in the usual order of Asia, Africa, America, - 
Australia, and Polynesia. Those who wish more extensive information on this 
subject, may consult some elaborate communications of M. Mirbel in the 
Mémoires du Muséum, vol. xiv. p. 378.; or, in an English dress, by Dr. Hooker, — 
in Murray’s Encyclopedia of Geography. 
Sect. I. Of the Trees and Shrubs suitable for Temperate Climates, — 
indigenous or introduced, in Asia. 
AccorDING to our enumeration (p. 126.), 183 ligneous plants, which endure 
the open air in Britain, have been introduced from different parts of Asia, — 
and chiefly from Siberia, Nepal, and China. Additions, as we have already 
observed, when noticing the flora of Asiatic Russia, may still be expected 
from the former country; and, considering the situation of China, and the 
character of its surface, when that immense territory comes to be explored by 
