RARE AND LOCAL PLANTS. 223 



close to the sea, the Vitex forms a kind of hedge by 

 the roadside. There is a swamp just here. This 

 locality is not mentioned in the books, but three 

 others are given : Antibes, Chateauneuf, and Foux de 

 Mouans between Grasse and Cannes. 



The fragrance of this shrub is alluded to in 

 Plato's Pha^drus. The leaves, dried and powdered, 

 are credited with the same virtue which gives its name 

 to the genus Artemisia. Hence the epithet " castus." 



Vitex Agnus Castus has but one relative in Europe, 

 or at any rate in this part of Europe, namely, the wild 

 Verbena, a plant accounted sacred from the earliest 

 times. We cultivate several plants of the same order : 

 for instance, the Scented Verbena (Aloysia triphyUa), 

 which becomes almost a tree in this climate ; and the 

 Clerodendron, a small Japanese shrub fairly common 

 in Nice. But the most striking species of the Verbena 

 family grown in the gardens here belong to the genus 

 Lantana. These are climbing, or rather trailing, 

 shrubs, with wrinkled leaves and many-coloured 

 flowers, which change their tint as the flowering 

 advances. Lantana has a peculiar smell. 



The Stemless Cudweed (Evax], or as Linnaeus 

 called it, the Pygmy Filago, is a plant which I have 

 found in one spot only, though I do not say that it is 

 rare. This Composite forms little rosettes on the 

 bare ground at Antibes, between the railway station 

 and the fortifications . It is easy to identify. 



When I lived at Cimiez I used to see upon the 

 ruins an exquisite little Primulaceous plant, Astero- 

 linum steUfitum (Lysimarhia Unum-stellatum Linn.), 

 an annual like the last. This minute herb may or 

 may not be counted rare, but you can search a good 



