PLANTS OF PALESTINE. 125 



Mastic (Pistacia Lentiscus), Arbutus, and Myrtle : 

 the same shrubs occupy the waste spots on the hills 

 round Nice. The Jordan valley is bright in Spring 

 with Cistus, scarlet Anemone, white Garlic (Allium), 

 Narcissus, and many other flowers which we have 

 here in abundance. The common ^V. Tazetta, is 

 probably the "Rose of Sharon" (Cant. ii. 1). On 

 the Riviera di Levante, as in Palestine, the Oleander 

 (Nerium) lives in the stony torrent beds. The 

 beautiful Styrax of Syria is found near Hyeres. 

 Laurustinus (Viburnum Tinus) grows wild here as 

 there. The delicate white Broom (Retama), the 

 " Juniper " of Scripture, blooms with us in Spring, as 

 it does in Gilead. Later on, towards Summer, the 

 walls and rocky places of the Riviera are festooned 

 with the large pink and white blossoms of the Caper 

 (Capparis spinosa, Figs. 49 and 50). 



I will take the last-mentioned as an instance of 

 a Plant of Palestine. In the eloquent but material- 

 istic passage in Ecclesiastes xii. 5, the word " desire " 

 should probably be translated " Caper," thus : " The 

 flower of the Caper shall wither," " Beauty shall fade 

 away." The Caper is a fit emblem of death or decay; 

 growing, as it does in the East, on ruins and on 

 tombs, and having a flower both beautiful and short- 

 lived. It is common on the Colosseum, and elsewhere 

 in the neighbourhood of Rome. The flowers are 

 indeed very fugacious, more so even than those of 

 the Cistus, for they appear sometimes to be blighted 

 off almost as soon as they open. 



The untimely wilting (to use an archaism) of the 

 Caper blossoms must strike even unobservant persons, 

 for they are conspicuous both by their size and by the 



