RARE AND LOCAL PLANTS. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



ViTEX Agnus Castus (Fig. 82) is a shrub with graceful 

 palmate leaf and clusters (verticels) of violet flowers. 

 It grows here and there on waste ground along the 

 coast, and, being deciduous, is easily overlooked in 

 Winter; but in the Summer no botanist would be 

 likely to pass it by. 



Vitex was recorded from Cap Martin as late 

 as 1863. I do not know whether the plant 

 is still to be seen in that locality, but it has 

 disappeared from the neighbourhood of Nice. 

 It used to grow in the Magnan valley, but this 

 torrent bed has been explored of late years from 

 source to sea by Mr. H. Bourdillon without finding 

 any trace of it. This enthusiastic and most athletic 

 botanist is, in spite of his name, an Englishman. 



Many years ago I found this remarkable palmate- 

 leaved shrub in a wild place between the road and 

 the sea near the right or west bank of the River 

 Loup ; but I could make nothing of it, for it was not 

 in flower. Perhaps it may still be found in that spot. 

 At any rate there is a place on the same part of the 

 coast where it does certainly still grow in considerable 

 quantity. At Vaugrenier, between Antibes and 

 Cagnes, where the high road and the rail both run 



