172 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



In a great part of this island, no other tree is 

 large enough to cast any extent of shadow, and 

 the inhabitants sit in parties beneath its boughs. 

 Both this and our common arbutus are abund- 

 ant in many parts of Palestine, and growing 

 to a much larger size, they are very pic- 

 turesque objects, the oriental species flowering 

 in spring, and our common kind in autumn. 

 The arbutus, in the lovely valleys, is often 

 found with a stem six feet in circumference, 

 and, with the oak and the fir, is said to be 

 one of the trees which principally give a wooded 

 character to the hills of Gilead and Bashan ; 

 So too, in southern Judea, these shrubs form 

 an important part of the woodland scenery, 

 mingUng with the Scotch fir and the oak ; and 

 although the olive still is, as it ever was, the 

 characteristic tree of Palestine, yet the arbutus 

 is so general as to attract the attention of all 

 travellers who observe the scenery of the Ploly 

 Land. Its fruits, too, are more beautiful and 

 conspicuous than its flowers, and they may be 

 safely eaten. A very showy species from the 

 Canary isles is kept in the greenhouse, and we 

 have also a handsome Peruvian kind. 



And now clumps of the China aster, (Calli- 

 stephus,) with their large stars of white, lilac, 

 pink, purple, or variegated blossoms, are among 

 the most attractive of the autumnal flowers. 

 This is one of the flowers which the Chinese 

 prize and cultivate so highly, and in China it 

 is much larger than in our gardens. Several 

 kinds of starry flowers, under the general name 



