THE WARMEll TEMPERATE ZONE. 95 



show in their native home, we see the true Laurel, which we 

 call the Bay- tree (Laurus nobilis), the Myrtle (Myrtus com- 

 munis), and a tree-like Heath (Erica arborea). 



But old sights still often meet our eyes, particularly 

 amongst the little herbaceous plants. Flowers of the Mint 

 family (Labiata) , and the order of Cloveworts (Caryophyllea] 

 (that is to say, species of Lychnis (Silene), Stitchwort and 

 Chick weed (Stellaria), and Pink (Liantkus), many of which 

 have cloven petals) so abound here, that Schouw "formed 

 the kingdom" of Labiate? and Caryopliyllea in southern 

 Europe and northern Africa. The Pinks reach such per- 

 fection in some of the countries bordering on the Medi- 

 terranean, that one species, which is a native of Greece 

 (DmntJius fruticosus) , "grows to the size of a shrub, three 

 feet and more in height, bearing the flowers of the common 

 Pink." Plants of the Composite Order are common too, 

 and all that family of plants with blossoms like the Pea 

 (Papilionacea], as well as the Umbelliferous and Cruciferous 

 Orders. Amongst the latter, wild Stocks must be named 

 as growing so abundantly on some of the rocks of the Medi- 

 terranean, as to impart quite a grey tint to them by the 

 colour of their leaves. Sometimes these rocks are clothed 

 with wild Olives, and a kind of Pine called the Aleppo 





