292 



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



mountain-ridge, on the northern slope (for instance in the valleys above Peristerona and Evrykhu) as well 

 as on the southern slope (chiefly in the district of Paphos). Quercus hisitanica is a species rich in forms, 

 and earlier authoi's have described several of its forms as distinct species; these, however, do not seem 

 to be always based upon a sufficient material, and a closer treatment of the many forms must be reserved 

 to future investig-ators. 1 have, therefore, considered it most coirect at the present state of knowledge to 

 deal with the species collectively, and have comprised the different forms by the name of Q hisitanica. 

 In Cyprus 1 have never found this species to constitute real woods, and the only place on the island where 

 it is said to form a small wood-tract is in the neighbourhood of the little Turkish village Aliphotes in the 



Peristerona-valley, where according 

 to KoTscHY large oaks "einige 

 Lehnen mit Hochwald bedecken." ') 

 Most known among all the 

 large oaks of the island is the huge 



Apu; SraupoXt^dvou, which Until 1902 



was seen in the neighbourhood of 

 the village Polemi in the district of 

 Paphos (between Polemi and Le- 

 tymbu). It was considered as a 

 sacred tree, and people constantly 

 made pilgrimages to it. In its later 

 years it was very frail and had lost 

 a great deal of its crown (Fig. 117). 

 In 1888 is was measured by D. G. 

 HoGAKTH, and the circumference of 

 the stem, 5 Engl, feet above the 

 ground, was then 2.3 feet 6 inches 

 (= 7.16 m.); the branches span 

 round 118 feet (= 36 m.) -) Accord- 

 ing to the kind communication of 

 Mr. A. K. BoviLL, who measured 

 the tree in August 1900, he found 

 the circumference of the stem, 8 feet 

 above the ground, to be 23' 3" (= 7.09 m.), and the greatest radius of the crown 54' (= 16.46 m.). 

 According to the kind information of Mr. G. Vassimou the tree was in 1902 by an accident injuried by 

 iire, and died shortly afterwards. — A big oak at the village of Perapedhi, on the road from Limassol to 

 Troodos, has still a somewhat thicker trunk. When I measured it, in August 1905, the circumference of 

 the stem, breast-high, was 7.50 m.; the interior of the stem was hollow. The tree was locally known 

 under the name of Koupetco?.— At Paradiso, just north to the village of Lyso in the district of Paphos, 

 an unusually big and beautiful oak is found, the stem of which some 2 m. above the ground is divided 

 into 4 head-branches, which stretch out in different directions; previously a fifth branch has also existed, 

 which has, however, now disappeared (burnt off). Internally the trunk is holloAV and filled with earth 

 and stones. The smallest circumference, below the place where it divides, is 6.50 m. The crown 

 stretches over a large space and offers a splendid shade; its greatest diameter is about 29 m. In the 

 neighbourhood of Lyso several other big oaks are also found.— Unusually many old and venerable oaks 

 grow in the upper part of the valley of the river of Ezuza in the same district, near to the villages 



Fig. 117. 



Large Oak (Qntrcns lusitmuca) at Polemi, Distaiit of Paphos. 

 (After D. E. Hutchins). 



1) Unoer u. Kotschy, Die Insel Oyperu, p. 122.— Oberhummbr, 1. c, p. 260. 

 ') D. ti. Hogarth, Devia Cypria, p. 30. 



