160 CHAPTER XXL 



not to be despised. It is curious, if not beautiful. 

 Notice the edges of the young leaf revolute as in 

 Rumex, and the white waxy fruits. 



A still greater contrast to all ordinary vegetation 

 is afforded by the Ephedra, a kind of climbing Conifer 

 from north-west Africa. It forms a dense tangle of 

 thin, jointed, leafless twigs. The pistillate plant 

 bears small red fruits. I have seen a porch covered 

 with Ephedra, and the plant struck me as being 

 admirably adapted to this purpose. There is a good 

 specimen in the Jardin Public, Nice. A species of 

 Ephedra can be made to cover hot sandy places 

 where no grass will grow. It may be pegged down 

 and cropped close, and will even endure to be sub- 

 merged by a high tide. 



Climbing Aristohchias are not very common in 

 the Nice gardens ; nor is the strange Philodendron, an 

 Aroid with pierced leaves. But the Mexican Maur- 

 andia, flowering all the year round, is a favourite ; 

 and so is the charming little Medeola, an Endogen. 



The pale blue Plumbago Capensis strikes the eye 

 at every turn. A scrap, a few inches long, detached 

 from the stock, not only strikes root, but even flowers 

 at once. Cobcea has large purple bells which are 

 green when they first expand. A specimen which I 

 purchased perished during the Summer, killed I 

 suppose by the drought. 



The thick-leaved Haya flowered in one of the 

 gardens I used to frequent, but I have not often 

 seen it near Nice. 



To make up the list of most notable climbers of 

 the Riviera gardens, I will add the Tecomas and 

 Bignonias. Within a few yards of the central Boule- 



