II. Historical Development of our Knowledge on the Cyprian Flora. 



Wlien we consider the importance of (Cyprus in ancient history and its frequent communication 

 with Greece and Asia Minor, the native countries of the botanical fathers of ancient age, it is only natural 

 that several Cyprian plants are mentioned in the works of classical authors. Even if the identification of 

 the species in some cases is more or less dubious, many a valuable hint concerning- Cyprian plants or 

 the former state of the vegetation are still to be had from these sources. Some noteworthy remarks, 

 chiefly on cultivated, but also on spontaneous plants, are met with occasionally in the reports of pilgrims 

 and other travellers, who have in the course of time visited the island. But the scientitic exploration of 

 the flora, in the modern sense of the word, did not commence until near the end of the 18th century, and 

 is chiefly connected with the names of J. Sibthorp, Aucher-Eloy, Th. Kotschy, P. Unger, P. Sintenis, 

 and G. E. Post. At the time, when this is written, the flora of Cyprus must still be said to be imper- 

 fectly known, great parts of the island having been visited by travelling botanists only at a single season. 

 There is reason to hope, that also for years to come all botanical expeditions to this island will give a 

 rich harvest of interesting plants, and for modern phyto-geographical investigations here is an open and 

 very promising field. 



Compilations of the plants indicated to grow on Cyprus by the scribents of ancient age have al- 

 ready been made by Johannes Meursius, ') W. H. Engel-) and recently by E. Oberhummeh.^) Partly 

 the last mentioned author and partly C. D. Cobham'') have reprinted in translation and thus made easily 

 accessible most of the existing old reports and descriptions of Cyprus by travellers of the past centuries. 

 After having consulted these and various other sources, I will try to give here a revised list of such 

 plants, which I have been able to identify among those indicated by authors before 1787, the year of 

 SiBTHORp's visit, to occur in the island in a wild oi- cultivated state. For pai'ticulars concerning the 

 several plants must be referred to the books just quoted. As far as possible the nomenclature will be brought 

 in agreement with the actual conditions of systematical botany. 



List of Cyprian Plants mentioned by Authors before 1787, 



C = Cobham, E =: Engel, M = Mel'rsids, = Oberuu.mmek, UK = Usgek aud Kutschy. 

 Plant» niarkeil with an asterisc (*) have probably only occurred as cultivated. 



AUiiini Cepa L. and 'A. satirtim L. are already I Alnus orienialis \'>(i\\Uw. A. Drummond in 17.54 speaks 



nicutiimcd as incurrinn- (m the island by various aniient an- of a tree, axXiQpov, which he saw near Kambos and thouirht to 

 thors. (O. 'MS). be a kind of elm. (C. I, 213). Evidently the tree in (lurstimi 



is A. orientalis, whose Oypriot name is axXi^Spoj. 



') Johannes Mbitrsius, Creta, Eliodus. Cyprus, .\mstelodanu IB" 5. pai;-. 9.5 — H7. 



2) W. H. Engel, Kypros, 1. pag. 58—66. Berlin 1841. 



^) E. Oberhummer, Die Insel Cypern, 1. paa;. 243, seqv. .Miiucheu 1903. 



■*) C. D. Cobham, Excerpta Cyi)ria, I, Nicosia 1895. — II, Larnaca 1896—1902. 



