294 SPRING FLOWERS OF THE SOUTH OF EUROPE. [OctoheV, 



clothed with thick forests, but nearly their whole base on the 

 northern and western sides is studded, at a small elevation above 

 the plain, with a succession of small towns which, and their neigh- 

 bourhood, are the resort of the richer E-omans and resident 

 foreigners during the unhealthy season. Omitting Frascati and 

 other places which face to the north, the western base is occupied 

 by Albano, La Riccia, and Gensano : Albano, which forms the 

 angular point, being alone visible from Rome. Both in scenery 

 and in vegetation this place, more, perhaps, than any other in 

 Italy, combines the peculiar character and features of southern 

 Europe with a large share of those of England. Its elevation is 

 sufficient to command the whole breadth of the Campagna, and 

 a considerable space of sea beyond. The view from the western 

 side of the town has the solemn, though not sombre, but cheerful, 

 stateliness characteristic of Italian landscape, while on the land 

 side the forests range from the summits of the mountains to the 

 very border of the town, and on the boundary which separates 

 the two regions, an avenue of full-grown forest trees, so rare in 

 most parts of the Continent, stretches along the whole length of 

 the winding road leading from Albano to the beautiful village of 

 Castel Gandolfo, situated on the rim of the crater which holds 

 the blue volcanic lake of Albano. Beyond Castel Gandolfo are 

 grassy downs, which combine with the forest to produce the 

 likeness of verdant England in the centre of Italy, and the re- 

 semblance extends to botany as well as to scenery. The spring 

 Flora of this region is of an almost English character, though 

 the particular species are mostly such as are either rare, or do 

 not grow at all in England. On the downs of Castel Gandolfo 

 are found Hesperis (now Arabis) verna, with its flower resembling 

 Virginia Stock, and one of the most graceful of the Irides, 

 I. tuberosa. Along the circuit of the lake, Lunaria biennis, the 

 " Honesty" of our cottage-gardens, exhibits its lilac, cross-like 

 flowers, and its large, flat, almost nummular, pods. Nearer to 

 the town, Lithospermuni purpurea -cceruleum puts forth its bright, 

 metallic-looking blossoms. The woods abound with the yellow 

 Anemone ranunculoides ; the light-blue Scilla bifolia, with its 

 hyacinth-like leaves ; Pulmonaria officinalis, another plant of cot- 

 tage-gardens, and indigenous in England, with its flowers of va- 

 rious hues on the same stalk, and its broadly-spotted leaves; 

 the snowy Allium pendulinum ; the rarer of our two species of 



