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CHAPTER XXX. 



site, with a single cone-like capitulum. From the top 



of this protrudes an absurdly small tuft of purple 



florets. The leaves are whitish beneath. Altogether 



the plant has a singular appearance. I have found it 



in three places : on the limestone rocks by the " Two 



Brothers," near St. Martin Vesu- 



bia, some 4,000 feet above the 



sea ; on the south slope of the 



Mount Chauve ; lastly in the 



Vallon Obscur, Nice. It is rare 



in this last locality, and you 



cannot count on finding it there. 



So conspicuous a plant is easy 



to find in any place where there 



are even a few specimens. 



In this same valley I have 

 gathered a Lythrum ; not our 

 British plant, Tennyson's "Long 

 Purples," but a smaller species, 

 L. Grajferi. Ardoino calls it 

 "assez commun," but it is cer- 

 tainly rare in the Nice district. 

 Before leavingthe "Dark Valley," 

 I will mention two more flowers 

 worth notice : Hypericum andro- Fig ' 83 - L CONCHA. 

 scemurn and Samolus Valerandi, the former of which 

 cannot be called common. 



Simethis bicolor is absent from the eastern 

 Kiviera, and for the western region Ardoino gives 

 but one locality, Cap Croisette near Cannes. We 

 found it in the Esterel, not far from Trayas station. 

 Rare as is the Simethis out here, it is rarer still in 

 Britain, where it is confined to a single spot about 



