Botanical Notices from Spain. 113 
XIUL.—Boianical Notices from Spam. By Moritz WittkomM*. 
[Continued from vol. xv. p. 419.] 
No. IV. Grawnapva, August 12, 1844. 
Weartep with the view of the endless plains of the Mancha, which 
present only an aspect of corn-fields and brown arid heath, here and 
there broken by a copse of the Quercus Jlex or Pinus Pinea, 1 was 
not a little delighted, when on the morning of the 10th of July I 
descried the blue mountain-ranges of the Sierra Morena, the frontier 
of the long-desired Andalusia. This long and wide chain of moun- 
tains, which rises in gentle gradations to a height scarcely exceeding 
6000 feet, is at this point almost wholly covered with copses of oak. 
The rivulets, which are particularly numerous on the south side, 
permeating the valleys, and emptying their waters into the Guadal- 
quivir, give birth to a richer vegetation than I had hitherto observed 
in the Spanish mountains, and were chiefly inclosed with flowering 
oleanders, ash-trees and elms, interspersed with the vine, which grows 
almost wild here, as in the lowest part of the Sierra Nevada, and 
hangs in picturesque festoons from the tops of the trees down to the 
ground. After traversing the celebrated Pass of Spinasperros, and 
crossing many wide mountain-ridges, we arrive at the ancient Swabian 
colonies of S'® Helena and Carolina; and the environs of these beau- 
tiful localities, especially of Carolina, show the traveller, by their fer- 
tility, that he has reached the happy land of Andalusia. Hedges of 
Agave americana and Opuntia vulgaris, which surround the intermina- 
ble fields of wheat, maize, hemp, beans, garbanzos( Cicer arietinum, .), 
tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum, Mill.), pimento (Capsicum annuum, 
L.), plantations of mulberry-, olive-, almond--and vine-trees, which 
extend to the banks of the Guadalquivir, recall to mind the fruitful 
plains of Valencia. The extensive and very barren Sierra de’ Jaen 
separates the wide valley of the Guadalquivir from the noble Vega of 
Granada,—the former so celebrated in history, which extends at the 
foot of the Sierra Nevada, rising like an immense wall, with snow- 
capped summits to more than 11,000 feet in height, and bounded on 
the west by the Sierra Tejeda and Sierra de Alhama.. Although; in 
the country around Granada, neither the date- and dwarf-palm, nor 
the orange-hedges of Valencia are found, yet the vegetation bears a 
far more southern character. I had nowhere before seen in Spain such 
a luxuriant and almost tropical vegetation, not excepting even Aran- 
» juez, where it is evident that the cultivating hand of man has. pro- 
duced by artificial irrigation that rich growth of trees and plants of 
all kinds which convert this spot into a charming oasis in the deserts 
of New Castille. 
On one of the peninsular tracts of land formed by the small but 
celebrated rivers of the Jenil and Darro lies the ancient royal city 
of Granada, at the foot of the proud Alhambra, whose Moorish.towers 
crown the last offshoot of the rocky wall which divides the valleys 
* Translated from the Botanische Zeitung, Nov..29 and Dec. 6, 1844. 
