ON THE VEGETATION OF ETNA. 
51 
tus Opuntia), of which the large cooling fasciculata, Senecio chrysanthemifolius, 
fruits are sold at the rate of one Sicilian 
gran, or less than 2d., for thirty. This plant 
is one of the most useful presents of the 
New to the Old World, as it grows on the 
poorest and most rocky soil, where nothing 
else will vegetate, requiring no attention, 
and even its succulent-jointed stems are 
greedily devoured by goats, while the fruits 
are highly acceptable to the poor; and 
strangers, who seldom like the flavour at 
first, soon learn to value their cooling pro- 
perties. There are numerous varieties; 
light and dark red, and green; the latter 
called Moscarelli, possess the finest flavour, 
as does the aromatic and scarce variety, 
which has no seeds. Three species of 
Opuntia are raised in Sicily, the Tuna, the 
esculent-fruited one, mentioned above, and 
Cactus maximus, which is only employed 
for making impenetrable hedges, to which 
its spines, an inch long, are particularly 
suitable. The Cactus Opuntia is of much 
service to Etna, by rendering the fields of 
lava capable of being worked, as the roots 
penetrate every crevice of the stone, and 
soon burst the largest blocks asunder by 
their gradual increase. Under their shade 
many species of plants, as Lupines, 
Calendula, Asphodelus, Asparagus albus 
and acutifolius, several kinds of Silene, 
Brassica, Sinapis and Reseda, besides 
Acanthus mollis, Arum, Arisarum, &c. 
all of which would soon be burnt up by 
the scorching rays of the sun without such 
a shelter. It is reckoned that, within thirty 
years of the Cactus being planted, culti- 
vation may commence on the lava fields. 
Besides the plants just enumerated, those 
which are most abundant in the lava 
streams are, Andropogon hirtus and dista- 
chyos, Lagurus ovatus, Rumez scutatus, 
Valeriana rubra, Plumbago Europea, 
Thymus Nepeta, Satureja Greca, Ra- 
bullatus, Capparis rupestris 
(peduncularis, Te) prt marii- 
"Mum. 
many species of 7: bad. flax (Linaria), He- 
hotropium Bocconi with white, large, 
Sweet-scented flowers, Mandragora au- 
Prenanthes viminea, Aparqia 
Daphne Gnidium, Spartium infestum, 
Spartina juncea, Physalis somnifera,' 
Solanum Sodomeum, Ricinus Africanus, 
Smiloz aspera, Euphorbia Characias, and 
£. dendrovdes, the tree-like Spurge Laurel, 
one of the finest shrubs in Sicily, which rises 
to a height of about six feet, the stem fork- 
ing soon above the ground, and each branch 
dividing again, so that the form of the 
whole is perfectly semiglobular. In sum- 
mer it is quite bare of foliage, when th 
numerous, smooth, verticillate branches 
give the plant a most singular appearance, 
but with the rains of autumn the numerous 
linear leaves begin to sprout forth at the 
end of the boughs, and a corymb of yellow 
flowers tips the extremity of each branch 
in the month of February; so that one could 
scarcely recognize the dry leafless shrub 
of summer in the verdant and yellow-blos- 
somed bush which strikes every beholder 
in the early spring. One is reminded of 
the vicinity to Africa and its islands by this 
Euphorbia and its congeners, E. Canari- 
ensis and E. balsamifera. We saw these 
last at a height of 1,500 feet above the 
sea, accompanied by Smilox aspera, which 
on the North coast attains to the greater 
elevation of 2,500. Etna, however, is de- 
ficient in all those tribes which present an 
analogy to the region of Laurels in the 
Canary Isles, and the true Victor's Laurel 
(Laurus nobilis) is not really wild any 
where in Sicily, though it grows here and 
there in hedges near the towns; for in- 
stance, at Randazzo, 2,000 feet high. Man- 
dragora autumnalis, of which the blue 
flowers cover whole tracts, in autumn, as 
with a cerulean carpet, we found at 2,500 
feet; where we also met with solitary spe- 
cimensof the Strawberry, (Fragraria Ves- 
ca,) seen no where else in Sicily, though 
plentiful in the shady woods of Valdemone. 
Among Ferns we specially observed Acros- 
tichum velleum, Grammitis leptophylla, 
heilanthes suaveolens and Ophioglossum 
Lusitanicum, these at 1,700; Ceterach 
officinarum, Asplenium Trichomanes and 
Polypodium vulgare, combined with Coty- 
ledon Umbilicus, and several spatio of 
