6 LA MORTOLA. 



are reddened by the showy three-leaved bracts of the Bougain- 

 villea ; the flowers, however, are comparatively insignificant. The 

 above-mentioned names can give but a faint idea of such surround- 

 ings, among which rise countless groups, remarkable for their 

 stately height, the curious formation of their abundant foliage, 

 their thick fleshy leaves, or their green leafless stalks. At first 

 sight the slender date-palms take precedence, but the proprietor 

 has no particular predilection for palms, which, however, are 

 further represented here by the short-stemmed Phoenix tennis, by 

 Pritchardiafilifera, Cocos australis, C. botryophora, and C. flexuosa, 

 Livistona, Chamczrops, etc. Phoenix dactylifera is to be met with 

 in great numbers in the neighbourhood of Bordighera, while there 

 is a choice collection of the most splendid palms in the garden of 

 Monsieur Dognin at Cannes. 



The Coniferae in the garden of the Palazzo Orengo are also 

 remarkable. The original specimens of Pinus halepensis, Miller, 

 around the property have been carefully preserved, and the forest 

 growth enriched by the planting of the stately Pinus Pinaster, Sol- 

 ander, by P. canariensis, P. insignis, and others of the very long- 

 leafed kinds. Among these are the stately forms of the Cupressiis 

 sempervirens, L. The religious respect with which the ancient 

 Persian regarded this tree in its Asiatic home accompanied the 

 cypress to Italy. In the time of Aiigustus it was considered the 

 tree of mourning, as it is still. (Compare Lajard, " Recherches sur 

 le culte du Cypres pyramidal chez les peuples civilises de 1'anti- 

 quite," 2 parts, et supplement. Paris, 1854. 4 avec2i planches.) 

 Here also the cypresses remind us of a long-forgotten cemetery, 

 and in the opinion of the inhabitants the name of the village, 

 Mortola, means a place of burial. The Cupressus macrocarpa 

 differs exceedingly in its manner of growth from the obelisk-like 

 form of the oriental cypress ; the former spreads out its branches 

 in a straight line far and wide over the low bushes of the Juniperus 

 Oxycedrus, a small tree, however, nearly related to it. To the 

 native specimens of this latter species there have been added a 

 few specimens of the Syrian fanzfierus drupacea, Labillardiere. Cal- 

 litris quadrivalvis, Ventenat (or Thuja articulata) thrives well here. 

 It was familiar to the Romans by the name Citrus.^ On its scaly 



1 Boxes made of its wood were used for preserving woollen clothes against moths, 

 the wood possessing a well-marked aromatic scent. Hence the Romans applied in 

 later times the same name of Citrus to the fruit of the modern Citrus Medica, on account 

 of its smell resembling that of the said wood. 



