94 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



(Q. Suber) j and the Ilex (called in England the "Ever- 

 green Oak" par excellence] ; the Chestnut (Castanea), the 

 Cherry Laurel (Prunus Laurocerasus) , and the Laurustinus 

 (Viburnum Tmus) fill in the picture with their glossy, dark 

 green leaves. 



Amongst the evergreen shrubs may be named the kind 

 of Bearberry called the Strawberry-tree (Arbutus Unedo), 

 which some may remember as growing about the Lake of 

 Killarney; also Butchers-broom (Ruscus aculeatus), with 

 its scarlet berries; different kinds of Rosemary (Rosma- 

 rinus) and Pliillyrea, and the beautiful Cistuses, or Rock- 

 roses, with one species of which, the Gum Cistus (Cistus 

 ladamferus) , we are familiar in English gardens. Whilst 

 "the trees, as with us, have small, insignificant flowers, 

 those of the shrubs are large and handsome ;" but amongst 

 them all, the Cistus tribe seems unrivalled in beauty : 

 "In their native countries, particularly in the South of 

 Prance, Spain, and the Islands of the Mediterranean, the 

 Cistuses are by far the most lovely objects that nature has 

 planted in the woods, rocks, and other stations they in- 

 habit." The blossoms are remarkable for their beautiful 

 regularity, in every part of which the number five may be 

 unfailingly traced. Here too, in all the luxuriance they 



