358 BOTANY OF SPAIN. [December, 



of the mountain^ both in its higher and lower regions. There is 

 another mode of approach at the southern end of the mountain 

 from the Martorell station of the Valencia railway ; but on this 

 side there is neither carriage nor road, but a mule-path only, and 

 travellers must jnake their way up the mountain and along its 

 side to the convent, either on foot or mounted. Beyoud the 

 monastery there is no road higher up ; but mountain paths are 

 not deficient. The path to the top, after a stiff climb, leads for 

 a considerable distance along a wooded ravine hemmed in by 

 summits of a pillar-like or sugar-loaf character. The view from 

 the highest of these includes the greater part of Catalonia, 

 northward to the Pyrenees, westward and southward towards the 

 Segre and the Ebro. 



I can hardly speak in sufficiently strong terms of the profusion 

 and variety of the flowers, southern and northern, Mediterranean, 

 subalpine, and almost alpine, which covered the mountain-side 

 when I saw it ; not always in separate regions, but often mixed 

 together on the same spot. It is fitting to begin with the trees 

 and shrubs, which, still more than flowers, give the general 

 character to a landscape. The Quercus Ilex and coccifera of the 

 South (the latter not so plentiful as in many other places) are 

 combined with the Holly {Ilex Aquifolium) of the North. A 

 denizen of both equally, the Box -tree [Buxus sempervirens) , here 

 attains a lofty growth. The Juniper of our chalk downs {Juni- 

 perus communis) is joined with /. pho&nicea, a Southern and a 

 garrigue plant. With Cellis australis, the Micocoulier, a Medi- 

 terranean tree, is found the Mountain Ash [Pyrus Aucuparia) of 

 the North. Another flowering rosaceous shrub, Amelanchier vul- 

 garis, abounds, as it usually does where there are clefts in calca- 

 reous rocks, from the stony hills of Provence to the chalk clifis 

 above the Seine in Normandy. The Laurustinus {Viburnum 

 Tinus), a plant of Italy and the south of France, is side by side 

 with another of the same genus, V. Lantana, the Wayfaring-tree 

 of our chalk hills. Pliillyrea media and Rhamnus Alaternus, 

 natives of the garrigue, which reach English shrubberies, are ac- 

 companied by the Mastic, Pistacia Lentiscus, the Terebinth, P. 

 Terebinthus, and the universal Hedera Helix. 



But the flowers of Monserrat are more various and remarkable 

 than the wood products. I have seen few places in the South where 

 the vernal wood-flowers are so abundant. The blue colour is that 



