CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE BOTANICAL GEOGRAPHY, &C. T)] 



form the vegetable line of demarcation of the south of Europe. After 

 having entirely left the Alps, we observe an universally-known plant, 

 the Lavender, Lavendida spica. It is found upon the sunny hills 

 around Verona ; it is very abundant beyond Coni, towards the Colde 

 Teuda, there following the chain of mountains. It thence passes to 

 the south of France and Spain, where, in Arragon, it is still abun- 

 dant ; but lower down, in the plains of Castile, it is not found, nor 

 does it present itself in Portugal. It likewise terminates near Rome, 

 and appears only on the high mountains on the coast of the Adriatic. 

 It is not an eastern plant ; in Istria its place is supplied by the Salvia 

 officinalis, which there follows the Monte Maggiore, but which in 

 Italy grows only on the high mountains of the Abruzzi. 



The plains of Lombardy form a garden where scarcely a wild 

 plant grows, at all events not one that is at all characteristical. Thus, 

 also, the whole of the hilly Istria is covered with plantations of 

 Olives ; and it is only between these that it is observed that the region 

 of Myrtles commences. The Myrtle, hence, is the shrub which fol- 

 lows the south. It covers whole districts in Portugal, and by the 

 side of brooks, especially, it becomes a tall and beautiful plant. It 

 thence passes on through central and southern Spain, the most sou- 

 thern part of France, as far as the coasts of Genoa. It is everywhere 

 found in the papal states, and around Naples, and occupies the whole 

 of Istria, as far as Monte Maggiore. It, indeed, stretches further 

 south, but becomes gradually more rare ; and in the north of Italy 

 it is only seen in solitary situations. Further towards the south, on 

 passing the land of Myrtles, we come into that of the Rosemary, or, 

 more precisely, of the Oleander. It commences near Merida, in 

 Spain, follows the course of the Guadraria as far as Agamonte, where 

 formerly the good King Jargatai reposed in a grove of Laurels ; it 

 then fills the valleys of Algaera with its beautiful blossoms, whilst the 

 Scrra di Monchique is studded with the flowers of the Rhododen- 

 dron pontificum. It is only found in the hot valleys of Calabria and 

 Sicily. When along the road to the ancient Troeza, after having 

 wandered in the Morea for many leagues, beneath a burning sun, 

 over arid waterless mountains, but sparingly sheltered by solitary and 

 not high wild Pear trees, Pyrus cuneifolia, it refreshes the weary 

 and thirsty traveller to behold a long stripe of Oleanders in the dis- 

 tance, twining around the mountains, with solitary plaintains rising 

 above it ; for he is sure to find there a brook to quench his thirst, 

 and the Plaintains promise a rc-invigorating shelter. These are the 

 three vegetable regions of the south of Europe, in their order of suc- 

 cession from the north to the south. We will now turn to the lines 



