ECONOMIC FORESTRY. 399 
forests of oak (‘“‘mazu”’) occur also in Persia, as does also the 
beech (“nis ”) and elm (“‘azad”), the walnut (Juglans regia, L.), 
which probably has here its original home, as has also the myrtle 
(Myrtus communis), which yields an oil and a hard wood useful in 
turnery ; plane, sycamore, ash, yew, box, and juniper. Maples, 
hornbeams, and hazels also occur in this region ; and the terebinth 
(Pistacia Terebinthus; nat. order, Anacardiacee), and the cultivated 
Melia Azedarach, L., the “bead tree,” “ Indian lilac,” or “ pride of 
India,” are also characteristic features in the vegetation. The 
coniferee are represented by the Caucasian Picea orientalis and 
Abies Nordmanniana, Link., the Levantine A. ezlicica and A. 
cephalonica, Loud., by the Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis), and 
above all by the cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus Libani, Loud.), which 
probably gives place to the Himalayan variety, C. deodara, Loud., in 
the eastern mountains. The cultivation of the olive is one of the 
chief industries of Syria, and the manufacture of articles from its 
beautiful wood, an important trade in Jerusalem. The “ iron- 
wood ” of Persia is a species of Parrotia (nat. order, Hamamelidee). 
6. THe Desert Reeion oF ARABIA. 
The flora of this region is practically continuous with that of 
Northern and Eastern Africa, extending from the Cape Verde 
Islands into Abyssinia and round the Persian Gulf, through 
Biluchistan, and part of Afghanistan to the Indus. Almost all the 
plants are glaucous, many spinose, leaves being little developed, 
whilst gums and resins and pungent aromas are the rule. Trees 
are rare: Pistacia, Terebinthus, Celtis, Dodonea, Populus, and 
Phenix dactylifera, L., the date palm, being the chief. Lalsamoden- 
dron Myrrha, Ehrenb. (nat. order, Burseracee), yields myrrh ; and 
Acacia nilotica is said to have been the ancient ‘ shittim-wood ;” 
but this name has been also referred to Dalbergia Sissoo, the 
“ shisham ” of India, 
7. AFGHANISTAN. 
At a height from 6000 to 10,000 feet we have Cedrus deodara, 
Loud. ; Picea excelsa, Link. ; Pinus longifolia, Roxb. ; P. Pinaster, 
Soland. ; P. Pinea, L. ; larch, yew, hazel, and walnut, which latter, 
with various evergreen and kermes oaks, descend to lower heights, 
where they are mixed with alder, ash (apparently the “‘ sir-kasht,” 
or manna-yielding Fraxinus Ornus, L.), ‘“ khinjak,’ Pistacia 
Khinjuk, J. E. Stocks, which yields a gum mastic, and on the north 
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