Remarks on the most Important Plaut-Societies of the Island. 229 



will in vain be soug'ht in the much drier cornfields, e. g:. Panicnm mngHumle, certain species of Amaranthits, 

 Datum Stramonium and others.') The different types of the veg-etation of weeds are, however, connected 

 with each other through very smooth transitions. 



The great bulk of weeds in Cyprus, as in most other countries, consists of annual species, a com- 

 paratively large number of perennial plants occurring, however, also hei'o, the latter surviving the diy season 

 chiefly by the aid of subterranean bulbs and tubers. Such is the case with all the Liliaceac, given in the 

 list, moreover with Gladiolus segetum, Leontice Leontopetalum (Fig. 76) and L. chnjsogonum, Geranium tuberosum 

 and Bunium ferulaceuvi. It is more remarkable that some bushy plants occur among the weeds of the corn- 

 fields, e. g. Pro.^ojiis Stephaniana and Paliurns australis, both of them widely distributed in the lower 

 parts of the island. It is only to be ascribed to the very primitive manner of ploughing that they g-row 

 in so great numbers in the cornfields. 



b. The Ruderate Vegetation. The vegetation occurring in roads and courtyards, in dunghills near 

 towns, villages, convents and other such places, has much in common with the weed vegetation of the 

 cornfields and many species in common with the latter. On the other hand it comprises also certain 

 species which will not be found in the cornfields; on the whole it is conspicuous by several characteristic 

 traits. It is therefore natural that this vegetation should be treated separately. 



A typical locality of this kind of vegetation are the dunghills outside the walls of Nikosia, in 

 the neighbourhood of the gate of Famagusta. 



Partly in these dunghills at the foot of the walls, partly in fissures of the walls themselves, I 

 found a luxuriant growth rich in flowers. The plants are manured by all sorts of culls which have simply 

 been turned out over the sloping walls by the inhabitants of the adjoining squares. 



Of the most conspicuous species that I found here, may be mentioned: Arena satira, Hordeum 

 murinum, Urtica inlulifera, Spergularia camjwstris. Glaucium corniculatnrn subsp. phoeniceum, Fumaria 

 (several species), Papaver Ehoeas, Lepidium Draba subsp. chalepense, Capsella Bursa pastoris, Erodium 

 cieonium, Malva (several species), Asperugo procumhens, Plantago Psyllium., Hyoscijamus alhus, Galium 

 Apari^ie, Erigeron linifolium, Senecio vulgaris. Calendula arvensis subsp. micrantha, Matricaria Chamo- 

 milla. Anthemis sp.. Chrysanthemum coronarium, Silyhum Marianum, and many others.— Quite a similar 

 ruderato vegetation is found near the other towns of the island. Near Famagusta especially there is a 

 good opportunity of studying it in the neighbourhood of the ruins and in the Turkish part of the town; 

 along with Urtica pilulifera, so common everywhere, U. memhranacea also grows here abundantly; the 

 latter is a species I have seen nowhere else in Cyprus. Outside Larnaka and Limassol there are also 

 wide growths of ruderate plants; here one can see f. inst. copies of Ririnus communis of a man's height 

 and more; in these latitudes the latter species will often become perennial; moreover are to be found 

 very abundantly Ecballium elaterium, species of Reseda, Malvaceae, etc. 



A ruderate vegetation, rich in species and variety is to be found near every monastery, in the yard 

 as well as outside the walls. In the bricked yard in front of the monastery Hag. Varvara in Stavrovuni the 

 following plants grow, according to Sintenis: Calendula, Hypecoum (abundantly), Erodium cicntarium, 

 Plantago Lagopus, P. stricta, Draba verna, Thlaspi perfoliatum and a certain Lagoseris (probably L. bifida)-). 

 He says about the yard of the monastery of Kantara: „Der Hofraum ist mit hoben Krautern so dicht und 

 iippig bewachsen, dass von dem angehauften Schutt und Steingetrummern nicht viel zu sehen ist. Malva 

 parviflora. Chrysanthemum coronarium, Erodium moschatum, E. malacoides und ahnliche bilden die Ruderal- 

 flora. Die grossen gold gelben Wucherblumen auf dem saftig grunen Grunde verleihen diesem Orte einen 

 unvergleichlich prachtigen Schmuck."^) He tells us how the lonely old clergyman who lived in the 

 monastery at the time of his visit, very often used to live on leaves of the Malva taken from the convent 



') M. Vahl relates of similar facts from Madeira (Madeiras Vegetation, p. lH). 

 -) Sintenis : Cypern u. seine Flora, I, p. 229. 

 3) Sintenis, 1. c, II, p. UtO. 



