Neighbourhood of Trieste, 311 



was very magnificent, stretching over Frioul, Carniola and 

 Istria, bounded on three sides by the snow-topped chains of 

 the Alps, on the fourth by the blue Adriatic. At our feet lay 

 Trieste. 



Among the green spots on the Karst the most remarkable 

 is Lipizza. Lipizza is truly an oasis in a desert : it is a wood 

 about seven miles from Trieste, where the emperor breeds 

 horses for his stud. Many of the most beautiful and rare 

 plants of Illyria are found there, and some of its flowery de- 

 nizens grow nowhere else. From Lipizza I obtained Lilium 

 carniolicum and bulbiferum, Delphinium fissum (rariss.). Me- 

 dicago Karstiana, Potentilla recta, Potentilla inclinata (not 

 distinct from P. canescens), Hieracium bracteatum, sabinum 

 and obscurum, Scorzonera villosa and glastifolia, Loranthus 

 europceus, Quercus cerris, Ornithogalum comosum, Lactuca per- 

 ennis, Dianthus atrorubens and virgineus, Vicia sordida, Rosa 

 rubrifolia, Iris graminea, Coronilla montana, Centaurea ado- 

 nidifolia and Cerinthe maculata. At Lipizza and other places 

 on the Karst the localities richest in plants are singular basin- 

 shaped depressions of the surface. 



IV. The excursion to Contobello, though not so rich as that 

 to Monte Spaccato or Zaule, is interesting as exhibiting the 

 sea cliff vegetation of this part of the shores of the Adriatic. 

 On the way side between Contobello and Trieste grows the 

 rare and beautiful Rosa sempervirens. On the sea-coast I 

 gathered Lathyrus Nissolia, Chlora serotina, Dorycnium pen- 

 taphyllum,, Ruta divaricata, Lonicera etrusca, Palinurus spi- 

 nosus, Rhamnus alpinus, Ethionema saxatilis, Teucrium mon- 

 tanum, Trifolium angustifolium, Smilax aspera, Coronilla Erne- 

 rus, Quercus Ilex, Verbascum nigro-austriacum, Salvia offici- 

 nalis, Rubia peregrina, Phillyrea media, Ligustrum vulgare, 

 and last, not least, the loved plant of lady and poet, Myrtus 

 communis, on its native rocks in full bloom, as fair and 

 sweet there wild, as when petted and caressed in the finest 

 garden. 



