PLANTS OF PALESTINE. 135 



I have seen at the Battle of Flowers a carriage 

 completely covered with this Broom. The effect, I 

 admit, was good ; but what a gap there must have 

 been in the garden which supplied this decoration ! 

 How many trees were disfigured to ornament one 

 carriage for one hour ! 



Disregarding the title of this chapter, I will 

 include some plants which do not belong to Palestine. 



Allied to the Broom is the Acacia. Over fifty 

 species are cultivated on the Riviera. I will describe 

 a few of the most remarkable.* 



The pride of the Cannes gardens is the Acacia 

 deallxtta (Fig. 53), which thrives better there than on 

 the calcareous soil of Nice. Nevertheless, it can and 

 does grow in Nice. This is the " Silver Wattle " of the 

 Australians. It will sometimes grow to the height of 

 150 feet in that country. An immense quantity of these 

 Acacia flowers is distributed all over Europe. The 

 gardeners obtain them as much as a fortnight before 

 the natural time by cutting off the twigs and forcing 

 the flower-buds to expand prematurely under steam. 



Acacia pycnantha (Benth.) is the " Golden 

 Wattle " of the Australian colonists, and is generally 

 considered as their national flower. As such it forms 

 the subject of one of Gerald Massey's tuneful lyrics. 

 This shrub seldom attains 30 feet. 



A. retinoides, commonly called A.floribunda, has 

 narrow phyllodes not unlike willow leaves. It produces 

 its yellow globular flower-heads the whole year round. 

 No other Acacia flowers in Autumn on the Riviera. 



Next after the three species above mentioned 

 the commonest are the peculiar A. cultriformw, and 



* In the Mortola gardens seventy species of Acacia are grown. T. H. 



