INTRODUCTION. 



RIVIERA VEGETATION. 



By A. G. TANSLEY, M.A. 



THE fascination which the shores of the Mediterranean exert on 

 visitors from northern Europe is due to several factors. First and 

 foremost and dominating all others is the Mediterranean climate. 

 The mild sunny winter and spring, with their dry air, comparatively 

 few overcast days and practically no fog or mist is a most welcome 

 change from the damp, raw, sunless winters of north-western Europe. 

 It is true that within the last decade or two the dry cold of alpine 

 Switzerland with its winter sports has drawn away many of the 

 lovers of strenuous open-air exercise from the milder charms of the 

 Riviera. But to those who like to enjoy beautiful and varied 

 scenery not cloaked beneath a thick layer of snow, the Mediterranean 

 coast, particularly the stretch of it protected from the north by the 

 great bulwark of the Maritime and Ligurian Alps, will always retain in 

 winter and spring its pre-eminent charm. Here the natural out- 

 door life of the country itself, the life of the people and of the 

 vegetation, not merely the artificial hotel life of invaders from the 

 north, continues actively throughout the winter. 



The effect of the characteristic Mediterranean climate is of course 

 seen above all in Mediterranean vegetation. The rarity and slight- 

 ness of frosts and the continuously sunny weather with moderate rain- 

 fall enable a great variety of plants to be cultivated which will not 

 stand the northern winter. The olive, the orange, and the lemon 

 are some of the most conspicuous among the useful species, while 

 the great variety of palms and acacias (commonly called " mimosa ") 

 that adorn the gardens of the Riviera, together with such trees as the 

 " Californian Pepper " (Schinus molle), are the most conspicuous of 

 the purely ornamental cultivated plants. Next to these come the 

 fields of flowers violets, carnations, narcissus, roses which form 

 an important industry especially in the neighbourhood of Hyeres 

 and of Grasse, cultivated both for export to the great northern markets 

 and for the distillation of perfumes. The variety of trees and 

 flowers from all parts of the world which can be and are cultivated 

 in the Riviera gardens is immense, as may be realized most vividly 

 by a visit to the famous garden founded by the late Sir Thomas 



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