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



western part of the island, has with its narrow leaves and tiny white flowers a wholly different appearance 

 from the other species. None of these species climb the mountain-sides to such a height as C. riUosus 

 var. creticiis. 



In fig. 110 is I'eproduccd a photograph from Kantara Castle, in the foreground of which will be 

 seen a stretch covered with low, dense Cisf»s-copses. The taller shrubs, seen to the left and nearest to the 

 castle are mostly small specimens of Qtpresstts semyervirens. 



The stretches, where the Cfsh/s-species constitute the chief part of the vegetation, are named by 

 the natives as giatapxa.') 



Through the hair-clothing of its leaves and stems Cistus villosus secretes— especially in June and 

 July— an aromatic sticky substance, which from ancient times under the name of "ladanum" has been an 

 important article of commerce on Cyprus. How this secretion is effected has been closely studied by 

 Ungee, who has also made investigations as to the chemical composition of the substance. Ladanum is 

 nowadays utilized for the preparation of perfumes, in former days also for medical purposes. The gathering 

 of the matter is still, at any rate to a certain extent, effected in the same primitive manner, which is 

 already mentioned by Dioscoeides and Plinius; the substance is taken from the beard and other longhairy 

 parts of the body of goats, which have roamed about in the Cistus-cops&s.^) 



b. Shinia-Maquis. Perhaps more distributed on Cyprus than any other maquis-shrubs is Pistacia 

 Lentlseus, the ayi^jia as it is locally termed. In the lowlands as well as in the middler regions of the island 

 it is found everywhere on dry and sunny hillslopes. It may often be prevalent over large tracts, and 

 still oftener it is seen as a prominent element of mixed shrub-societies, where also greater or smaller 

 quantities of other xerophile shrubs are found. 



Among other maquis-shrubs, frequently seen together with Pistacia Lentiscns, the following may, 

 besides the Cisi)(s-speeies, be mentioned as the most impoi'tant: Genista sphacelata (with its var. Bovilliana), 

 Cali/cotome villosa, Ehammis olcoides subsp. graccus, liuhiis ulmifolius subsp. anatoUms, Onosma fniticosiim, 

 Lithospermum hispidulmn, Bosca ci/pria, Thymelaea Tartonraira subsp. argentea, Juniperus phocnicea, Myrtus 

 communis, Quercus coccifera subsp. pseudococcifera, Cap2)aris spinosa subsp. sicula, Rhus Coriaria, Styrax 

 officinalis, Prasium majus, Teucrimn m-eticum, Ballota integrifolia, Salvia triloha subsp. lihauotica and cypria, 

 Odontites cypria, Pterpcephalus midtiflorus and subsp. obtusifolius. Of more local occurrence are Ruscus 

 aculeatus, Thymelaea hirsuta, Phlomis cypria, Scahiosa cyprica. 



All the species of shrubs here mentioned are in some way or other well protected against drought. 

 Most of them have quite small, narrow, most frequently entire leaves (resp. leaflets), which are more or 

 less coriaceous and as a rule glossy and smooth. In some of them the leaves are densely covered with 

 soft hairs, on one side or both. Several of the species have a more or less strongly marked aromatic scent. 



The species of shrubs, here mentioned, may occur in very varied quantities in the individual 

 maquis-growths; now the one and now the other may by its numerical occurrence characterize the vegetation. 

 Pistacia Lentiscus will, however, in spite of the otherwise varying composition of the maquis-copses 

 always occur in sufficient quantities to make itself pi-evalent, and if this maquis-society is to be named 

 after a particularly typical species, no doubt it should be called after this one. I have, therefore, chosen 

 the term of "Shinia-Maquis". 



Together with these maquis-shrubs we will nearly always find Sanguisorha spinosa, Thymus capitatus, 

 Galium suherosum, or other of the dwarfy shrubs characteristic of the dwarfshrub-steppes. Single specimens 

 of Olea europaea, Crataegus Azarolus, Ceratonia Siliqua, Pistacia Tcrehinthus etc., as a rule more oi' loss 

 stunted and bitten by pasturing animals, as above mentioned, are also frequently met with. 



Several climbing shrubs and herbaceous plants grow among the maquis-shrubs: Smilax aspera, 

 Tamils communis. Asparagus stipularis, A. acutifolius, Clematis cirrhosa, Periploca gracilis, Lonicern etrusca, 



1) Unger u. Kotsciiy, Die Insel Cypeni, p. 124; Oberhumher, Cypern I, p. 2ti6. 



-) Compare Unger u. Kotschy, Die luxel Oypern. p. 393. — Oberhl'mmer. C3'peni I, p. 26ii. 



