PART II. 

 BOTANY OF GIBRALTAR. 



ON entering the Mediterranean Straits, Gibraltar 

 appears to be a barren rock; but as the stranger 

 approaches land, he is happily undeceived by find- 

 ing a great part of the rock covered with vegeta- 

 tion. After he has passed the South-port gate, he 

 finds himself in the Alameda, which is tastefully laid 

 out; and as he prolongs his walk, he is still more sur- 

 prised to find that Gibraltar can boast of its gardens 

 and walks lined with beautiful shrubs and plants, 

 shaded by stately poplars and bella-sombras.* Even 

 as early as December the colour of the rock is varied 

 by luxuriant vegetation, though of a diminutive 

 description, which with magical rapidity changes 

 its summer dress and arid appearance, immediately 

 after the first falls of rain ; masses of green of every 

 tint, harmonising beautifully with the yellow bloom of 

 the Spartium and Genista, and the fragile umbels of 

 the Oxalis cernua, which grows here almost wild. 

 The whole appearance of the rock, near the Alameda, 



* Phytolacca dioica. 



