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



225 



I'ed flowers in the middle of summer. It is very different from those species of the family which we 

 know from Northern Europe, having- a stiff, erect stem with numerous branches growing- in all directions; 

 the leaves, especially the upper ones are quite small compared with the size of the plant; the leaves, 

 the stem, the calyx and the outer side of the corolla are all densely hairy. In the end of July Xan- 

 thlum spinosum and Crozophora rerhascifoUa were prominent in the dry cornfields near Larnaka and 

 westwards towards the villages of Alethriko and Kivizil. Both of these plants are annual; herein they 

 differ from the greater part of the plants just mentioned.— As will be seen, this vegetation is decidedly 

 xerophile. The plants have been made able to support the great drought in different manners. Especially 

 Crozofhora verhascifolia is well defended against the strong evaporisation, being densely covered with 

 stellate hairs (Fig. 75). I have prefei-red to mention this vegetation of the cultivated fields in summer 

 in this place, and not in connection with the xerophile steppe societies — though they are very much like 

 the latter and have many species in common with them— because the same fields during the rest of the 

 year has a mesophile vegetation and because the perennial xerophile summer plants perform an important 

 part of their vital functions in the winter and in the spring. 



That the fields are so full of weeds, is a fact that must be ascribed to different causes. One 

 being that the conditions of life in Oriental cornfields can hardly be said to differ any much from those 

 of the uncultivated fields by which they are surrounded (cp. pag. 221 above). The cultivated fields in 

 fact often nnperceptly pass little by little into a wild steppe; consequently there is a constant inflow of 

 weeds contributing to keep up the stock. Another cause of the great number of weeds in the cornfields 

 of Cyprus, as in those of other Oriental countries, must be ascribed to the fact that no systematical woi-k 

 is done by the inhabitants to prevent the weeds from growing. The grain is sown, as I have mentioned 

 before, without having been winnoVved beforehand; the seed of hapaxanthie species of weeds therefore will 

 accompany the corn in large masses. And the preparation of the ground is so very superficial that the 

 rhizomes and tubers of the perennial species are but very little hurt by it. 



Here below I want to give a list of the most important weeds occurring in the cultivated fields 

 of the island, chiefly of those belonging to the weed-vegetation of the cornfields. In the list are also 

 embodied a few species, which are only known to grow in fields of cotton, horsebeans and potatoes (in 

 mountainous districts). 



Phalaris minor 



Panicum sanguinale 



P. eolonum 



Setaria vertieillata 



Bromus tectorum 



B. madritensis 



B. squarrosiis 



Hordeum miiriniim 



Lolium temidentum 



L. perenne 



Allium orientale 



Tulipa Octdus Solis 



T. montana 



Fritillaria libanotica 



Omithogalum tenu i folium and its subsp. 



trichophyllum 

 Hyacinthus romanits 

 H. trifoliatus 

 Miiscari comosiiin 



Vegetation of Cyprus — 2ii 



Gladiolus segetum 



Tliesium humile 



Polygonum Convolvulus 



Beta vidgaris 



Amaran thus chlorostachys 



A. pattdus 



Herniaria cinerea 



Polycarpon tetraphyllu m 



Sagina upetala 



Cerastium glomeratum 



Silene venosa var. ruhriflora 



S. conoidea 



S. maerodonta 



S. nocturna 



S. pendula 



(S', color a ia 



S. apetala and its var. grandiflora 



S. rubella 



S. aegypfiaca 



