52 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE BOTANICAL GEOGRAPHY 



of demarcation from the west to the east. It is not difficult to find 

 plants which indicate these divisions, for the Pines and Oaks readily 

 supply them. 



The Pinus sylvestris does not pass the alpine peaks towards the 

 south, nor does it present itself heyond the Rhine to the west ; that is 

 to say in its wild state. Plantations of it have frequently been form- 

 ed in France. A large and beautiful tree, which is disfigured only 

 by its grey green leaves, the Pinaster — Pinus pinaster. Lam. ; P. 

 maritima, De Cand. — forms the large forest of Leira, in Portugal, 

 but which Don Diniz planted from indigenous seeds. It is of a very 

 different appearance to the German Fir — for it forms a pyramid, and 

 not a crown ; the branches spring at right angles from the stem, and 

 the leaves are very long, and dark green. It stretches itself through- 

 out the whole of Spain as well as the south of France in the vicinity 

 of the Mediterranean, as far as the coasts of Genoa, both di Ponenti 

 and di Levante. It is recognized by the form of its extended branch- 

 es ; but it soon terminates, and in its place we find the Pine of Alep- 

 po — Pinus halepensis — as it is called by botanists who have adopted 

 the very laudable principle of altering no name, however incorrect 

 it may be. Its long and extremely delicate leaves sufficiently charac- 

 terize this tall and beautiful tree. It belongs to Italy, and indeed to 

 its plains ; but a different and equally beautiful Pine occupies the 

 mountains, with which we have not been long acquainted, the Pinus 

 Lariccio, which is found upon the mountains of Corsica, Calabria, 

 and upon Etna, of about the size and height of the Red Fir, Picea 

 excelsa. It was formerly found upon the lower mountains of Italy, 

 on the coasts of Genoa ; for Strabo says wood is felled there for 

 masts, it is exported, and in lieu they receive oil which is not pro- 

 cured at Genoa : it has now become precisely the contrary. Some 

 few years back, when the ground was removed for the foundations of 

 the Carlos Theatre, at Genoa, Pine-apples were dug up, one of which 

 Viviani, of Genoa, showed me, and it agreed exactly with the Pine- 

 apple I had brought from Etna. 



Further towards the east, we meet with the Grecian Pine, Pinus 

 maritima. This is not a high tree, but it has a beautiful crown and 

 long bright green leaves, and this colour distinguishes it very strong- 

 ly from all the other species of Pine. I have found it wild no- 

 where but in Greece. It is very numerous in ancient A ttica. From 

 the Acropolis there is seen in the distance, upon the sacred road to 

 Eleusis, a wood consisting of these trees, but which has now become 

 much opened. These woods are also seen upon Hymettus, also 

 upon the promontory of Sunium. In going from the hilly plains of 



