96 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



Pine (Pinus Halepensis) , intermixed with Oaks, Myrtles, 

 etc. 



We find an everyday friend and favourite, which is so 

 familiar in our gardens that we almost forget it is a foreigner, 

 namely, the garden Mignonette (Reseda odorata], growing 

 wild in that northern portion of Africa which lies within 

 this zone, as a half-shrubby plant, like the Wallflower. It 

 is said to be a native of Barbary, " but its only certain 

 station is in the sandy country about a fortified town of 

 Algiers called Mascara." The temperature of many of the 

 southern parts of this zone is considerably above its average 

 heat, particularly on the sea-coast, or in sheltered situations. 

 As an example of this, Meyen contrasts the vegetation of 

 Majorca with that of Minorca. In Majorca, which is shel- 

 tered in the north by a chain of mountains, the Olive-tree 

 grows with the greatest luxuriance in the plains, together 

 with a tree of the Leguminous family, called the Carob ; 

 the Olive even grows on the mountains at the height of 

 fifteen hundred feet; "but in Minorca, where the shelter 

 from the north is wanting, the Carob-tree and Olive almost 

 entirely disappear. The sketch given of the vegetation of Ma- 

 jorca generally is too interesting to be omitted. While the 

 mountains are covered (where the Olive ceases) with forests 



