I860.] SPRING FLOWERS OF THE SOUTH OF EUROPE. 293 



The Narcissi are perhaps the greatest riches of the vernal 

 meadows in the South. The Daffodil is indeed absent, but N. 

 poeticus is frequent, though nowhere but in the mountains have 

 I seen it in any profusion : the meadows of the Pyrenees are 

 positively white with its blossoms. Some of the many-flowered 

 species of this genus are met with in the plains ; in some locali- 

 ties N. Tazetta is frequent ; the gorgeous N. stellatus, or oinen- 

 talis, is found in others ; and there is a Narcissus near Naples — 

 probably N. serotinus — in flower all the winter, and with which 

 I have seen the plain of Psestum quite covered in February. 

 All these, hov/ever, are very local. Veronica Teucrium comes 

 near in beauty to V. ChanKBdrys, but is scarcely equal to it, and 

 not nearly so universal. Oxalis corniculata (itself a British 

 plant) is a poor substitute for Oxalis Acetosella ; while, for the 

 Primrose, Cowslip, Hyacinth, Woodruff, and Lily- of- the- valley, 

 there is no equivalent at all. When we consider the exquisite 

 beauty of all these, and the immense .abundance of the three 

 first in almost all neighbourhoods, and of the two last in some, 

 the assertion will not appear paradoxical that the South, with 

 all its number and variety of species, is on the whole poorer in 

 those flowering plants which make spring beautiful, than our 

 otherwise less favoured botanical region of the earth. 



In what precedes, I have been speaking of the south of Europe 

 generally. But there are particular places in it which, from local 

 circumstances, combine much of the character of northern vege- 

 tation with that of the more sunny regions which surround them, 

 and these places are the paradise of the botanist, as they are of 

 the lover of Nature. I will endeavour to give an account of one 

 of these, and will begin by describing its situation, since this 

 determines the main peculiarities of its botanical character, and 

 the richest Flora is almost always found among the most splendid 

 scenery. 



Whoever has been at Borne is familiar with at least the ap- 

 pearance of the group of noble though not very lofty mountains 

 (for, indeed, it is visible from many streets of the city,) which 

 stands isolated at some distance from the sea on one side, and 

 from the mountain barrier of the Campagna on the other, and 

 is the delight of painters by the aerial purple tint with which it 

 fills up one-half of the southern side of the landscape. Almost 

 all the part of these mountains which is visible from Borne is 



