Remarks on the most Important Plant-Societies of the Island. 



219 



of the Mediterranean will know how oppressive the heat of the sun may be in the low countries of 

 the said re^rion during the whole of the dry season. Some kind of protection from evaporation of the leaves 

 therefore may well be understood to be useful. In mai'shy plants growing in shady places I know no 

 instance of decidedly xerophilous characters of the structure of the leaves ever occurring. 



Another bushy plant rarely being absent from the banks of the rivers in the low country of 

 Cyprus is Vitcr Afpim Castus, being Avidely distributed also in other countries of the Mediterranean. 

 More prominent in the landscape, however, than the latter is the copse of different species of Tnmurix which 

 as a rule will occur in the lower parts of the island, on the banks of rivers or in other wet soil. Of 



Fig. 74. Large Plataue-tree at Hag. Mavra near the Village of Kilaui. 



the genus of Tamarix i species as yet have been with surety indicated for Cyprus; of these T. tetrandra, 

 T. parvifiora and T. Fallasn form a copse near the banks of rivers, while T. tetragijna— and its sub- 

 species T. Meijeri—a:S far as possible prefer a saliferous soil, and especially occur forming shrub near 

 the Salt Lake of Larnaka and near the more or less brackish basins in Messaria. 



Along ditch sides near Episkopi I found low bushy copies of SalLr alba, a species seen in the 

 island also by Sibthokp and Kotschy. 



In connection with the mai'shy shrubs it is natural that we should also treat of the growths of 

 platanes (Flatanus orientalis), occurring in the lower and middle regions of Cyprus everywhere near 

 springs and frequently also near riverbeds and in other wet places. In many tracts totally or partly 



