2 FLOWERING PLANTS OF THE RIVIERA 



Hanbury at La Mortola near Menton. Given proper water supply, 

 and careful shading and protection in the case of the most delicate 

 species, there are very few plants, with the exception perhaps of those 

 which require the continuous damp heat of the intertropical belt 

 and the more highly adapted northern and alpine forms, which can- 

 not be successfully grown under the climatic conditions of the 

 Riviera. 



But this book is concerned mainly with the wild plants of the 

 Riviera, and to these we must now turn. The visitor who spends most 

 of his time on the boulevards and in the gardens of Nice, Monte 

 Carlo, or Menton will get an impression of palms and oranges 

 and of showy flower-beds and well-kept turf. But he will scarcely 

 see anything of the native vegetation beyond glimpses from the 

 window of his " Rapide " of the dark green pine-woods of the Esterel, 

 backed by the splendid red of the porphyritic rocks and the deep 

 blue of the sea ; or of the dwarfer pine-woods and sparser evergreen 

 scrub of the sunbaked limestones between Marseilles and Toulon. To 

 see the native vegetation one has of course to get away from the im- 

 mediate neighbourhood of the larger towns. But it is astonishing how 

 easy it is to get into the midstof the extremely beautiful and characteris- 

 tic wild vegetation by simply taking train to any small station not in 

 the alluvial plains, which are nearly all cultivated. The coast itself 

 is now largely spoiled for the lover of wild vegetation and scenery 

 at least along the most frequented parts of the Riviera from St. 

 Raphael to Bordighera. The last remaining considerable stretches 

 of wild coastland within this region the Cap d'Antibes and the 

 Esterel have been mostly enclosed within the last few years. A few 

 wild and accessible bits remain, but not many. Along the coast of 

 the Montagnes des Maures, however, from Hyeres to St. Raphael, 

 which has only just begun to be "developed," there is much un- 

 spoiled scenery though scarcely so fine as that of the Esterel. A 

 little away from the actual coast, up among the hills, whether the 

 Maures, the Esterel, or behind Menton and Bordighera, it is easy 

 to walk for a day among the pine woods and flowering shrubs with 

 no let or hindrance, and without meeting any one but an occasional 

 peasant. 



The wild vegetation of the Riviera is seen at its best in late 

 spring. That is the season, as in more northern climates, when 

 most of the shrubs flower, and when numerous plants, hidden under- 

 ground during the winter, spring up and unfold their leaves and 

 flowers. But the great characteristic of Mediterranean vegetation, 

 distinguishing it from that of central and north-western Europe, is 

 the evergreen nature of the trees and shrubs which, with few ex- 

 ceptions, retain their leaves throughout the winter ; and it is this 

 fact which makes the vegetation so attractive even in mid-winter. 

 The mild winter enables the leaves to carry on their active work for 

 the plant the work of making fresh organic food from water and 



