98 List of Spontaneous Vascular Plants, liitherto observed in Cyprus. 



There can be.no doubt, that the American and Oriental trees are very closely related. Accordingr 

 to the diagnoses of Schneider, the most important differences between them are as follows: In the former 

 "species" the lobes of the leaves are said to be entire, only minutely serrate; underneatli, in the axils 

 between the chief nerves they have a distinct tuft of brown hairs. In the latter kind the lobes are 

 generally more or less lobate, the nerves but little hairy or quite smooth. E. Koehne in liis well-known 

 handbook of dendrology (Deutsche Dendrologie, p. 206) has found these differences not constant enough 

 to allow a separation into two different species; according to his experience smooth and hairy leaves, lobate 

 and entire, somewhat protracted segments, may be found in the New as well as in the Old World.') Also 

 Bkitton and Beown in their "Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British 

 Possessions" (II, 193) only describe the leaves of the American tree to be "often" pubescent in the axils 

 of the veins.— My observations during my stay in Cyprus, and also the material brought home by me, 

 affree best with the opinion of Koehne. Although the greater part of the leaves have entire lobes and 

 well developed tufts of hair at the. base of the ribs, exactly as stated by Boissier, leaves with more 

 or less regularly divided lobes are also frequently met with, especially on younger branches; it is not rare 

 that such leaves are almost destitute of hair-tufts. A specimen from Hag. Neophytes in the collection of 

 Mr. Michaelides (Fig. 29 a— b), now in the possession of Herb. Univ. Christ., agrees perfectly with 

 D. Hanburt's figure of a spontaneous L. orientalis from the coast of Asia Minor opposite Rhodes 

 (Science Papers, page 140, London 1876) with divided lobes, and also with fig. 273 f in the book of 

 Schneider, belonging to the typical L. orientalis Mill. 



In Boissiee's herbarium is only kept a single specimen of the spontaneous Anatolian Liquidambur. 

 determinated by him as L. orientale, and collected by Wawra at "Sims Karagatch Anatoliæ austro- 

 orientalis". This specimen has great resemblance with that of Mr. Michaelides from Hag. Neophytos; 

 some of the leaves have their lobes divided in a similar manner, while others have entire lobes like the 

 American tree. In the axils between the nerves there are distinct tufts of hairs. 



Further it should be considered, that the bark and wood of Liqiiidambar, by the Cypriotes called 

 ^uXo'* 'z'jfitzT] ("Wood of our Lord"), play a prominent part in the Orthodox liturgy of the Island, and is 

 also much used by the villagers as a household remedy against various diseases. From both its 

 growing-places every year great quantities of the bark are thus carried away, causing considerable 

 damage to the trees. And this practice bears every evidence of being very old. Even if the common 

 legend, when ascribing the first introduction of the tree to a monk, Neophytos, who founded the convent 

 of the same name about 1200 A. D., has possibly over-valued its age, the particulars given by travellei's 

 of the 18th century (R. Pococke 1738, J. Sibthoep 1787) fully prove, that the tree in question had 

 already then existed long time at Antiphoniti.-) It is not very probable, that a North American tree, 

 which has not been introduced to Europe till after 1688 (this year is mentioned by Schneider, 1. c), within 

 50 years afterwards should have found its way to a remote convent in the mountains of Cyprus, and 

 there given rise to so rich traditions. On the other hand the cultivation of Liqiiidambar in this place 

 can hardly be older than about the year 1500, when the monastery of Antiphoniti was established (according 

 to a written communication from Mr. C. D. Cobham). Also the native name, lu'Xo-t 'v^i-m], points to the 

 time after the Turkish conquest 1570 — 1571 A. D. 



With support in these circumstances we must, therefore, consider the trees planted in Cyprus, 

 to be of true Oriental extraction, however much they resemble the North American kind. The American 

 and Levantine forms of Liquidambar then probably, as maintained by E. Koehne, must be reckoned to 

 the same species, which has to bear the name of L. styraciflua L. Still it is probable that both forms 

 possess a certain degree of mutual independance, which might give them the range of separate sub- 



') In the herbarium of the botanical department of the "Hofmuseum" at Vienna I have seen a North American specimen 

 of L. styraciflua (from the collection of Eeichenbach fll.) with deeply lobate segments of leaves. 



^) Pococke, Deser. of the East, II, 2, 221 and 2.30; Sibthoep in Walpole, Travels. 17.— Reprinted by Cobham, 

 Exccrpta f'ypria, I. 1-30, 138 and 274. 



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