184 CHAPTER XXIV. 



his verse, no artist draws their outline with pencil or 

 with brush ; for there is about these plants the same 

 " disgusting dryness " which marked the speeches of 

 William the Silent. From Karl the Great the Carlines 

 derive their name. Since the time when they cured 

 his plague- stricken army, they have been of no use or 

 service to any one. At 3,000 feet, and perhaps lower 

 down, the Stemless Carline thrives. Ensconced in a 

 hollow of the stony ground, with all its branches and 

 all its internodes suppressed, shrinking back into a 

 short spiky mass, and so secured against all possible 

 attacks, it devotes its whole energy to the production 

 of one great solitary disc. 



The dangerous Opuntia tunicata has barbed 

 spines covered by a silvery sheath. Plants of this sort 

 should be grown only in a botanic garden, and there 

 beyond the reach of visitors.* 



Last, and worst of all Armed Plants, come the 

 Buckthorns (Rhamnacese), which claim the sad distinc- 

 tion of furnishing the crown of thorns. Paliurm, 

 or Christ's Thorn (Fig. 67), is a shrub with slender 

 curving branches and alternate subsessile shining 

 leaves. The stipules are altered into stout pines ; and 

 one of each pair points forward, while the other is 

 curved back like a boat-hook. Ornamental when 

 decked with its clusters of small yellow flowers, and 

 remarkable when it bears its curious fruits (seed cases), 

 which resemble a head with a broad -brimmed hat on. 

 Hence the French name, " Porte chapeau." Paliurus 

 is common in Palestine, and abundant also in Italy, 



* A still more formidable plant is 0. microdasys, the excessively 

 small spines of which, after lodging in the skin, cannot be detected 

 except by the aid of a magnifying glass, and are most difficult to 

 extract. T. H. 



