PERFUMED PLANTS. 245 



district which is not often visited. However, the 

 Melissa, sometimes called "Balm," a lemon-scented 

 Labiate, forms an excellent substitute. This delightful 

 plant is commoner near Nice than any one would 

 suppose who did not watch for it when walking out. 

 Without its small white flowers you might easily 

 mistake it for a Lamium. It comes as a pleasant 

 surprise to find that a herb which you have taken for 

 an ordinary wayside weed requires but a gentle touch 

 to shed a balsamic odour all around. 



One of the sweetest of the exotic garden shrubs 

 is the Pittosporum. The "fleurs embaumantes," white, 

 yellow, or red, perfume the air to a considerable 

 distance. If it be true that Peris live on perfumes, 

 a single Pittosporum ought to support a large num- 

 ber of these amiable creatures. These small trees 

 are planted all along the Promenade Anglaise, Nice. 



Olea fragrans and Orchis fragrans merit their 

 specific name. The latter plant is common enough 

 in grassy places near the coast. Of the rarer variety 

 coriophora it will be sufficient to say that the French 

 call it punaise ! an opprobrious epithet which is only 

 too well deserved. In the first week of June we have 

 found Orchis fragrans in flower on the Pessicard 

 hill, Nice. 



Its overpowering and nauseous sweetness is a 

 drawback to the universal Ligustrum (L. Japonicum). 

 The odour is like that of the closely related Privet, 

 but still more unbearable. The flowers appear in 

 July. There is a palm, fortunately not grown on the 

 Riviera, which is so highly perfumed that when it 

 comes into flower no one can remain in the neigh- 

 bourhood. The only way to deal with plants of this 



