CH. viii. VEGETATION OF THE OUTER RANGES. 189 



where it has cut a channel through sandstone rock there 

 was space to ride along the bed, and we here found several 

 rock-plants of some interest. The most conspicuous was 

 the European Gatananche ccerulea, not before seen by us, 

 but extremely common in the interior valleys of the Great 

 Atlas, growing two or three feet high in the warm zone, 

 and dwindling to a few inches in colder and exposed 

 stations. Of greater interest was Selaginella rupestris, 

 a species of club-moss that makes the round of the world 

 in the tropics, but is very rare outside those limits. 



Before long we began to ascend the slopes on the 

 western side of the valley. The hill was covered with 

 a dense growth of shrubs and low bushes, in great part 

 evergreen, and had more the characteristic aspect of the 

 region surrounding the shores of the ^lediterranean than 

 anything we had seen since leaving Tangier. But, al- 

 thoiigh there were several identical species, the differences 

 were very marked, and a single glance sufBced to show 

 that we were far removed from the flora of North Marocco. 

 I'he arbutus was the sole representative of its natural order, 

 and no heath extends to the Great Atlas. The oak-scrub, 

 in this and the neighbouring valleys, is all formed of some 

 form of the evergreen oak, Quercus lusitanica, Q. cocd- 

 fera, and the allied forms being all absent. The Alatemus 

 is common to both regions, but a narrow-leaved form of 

 Rhanmus oleoides is here more common. Seven species 

 of Cistus that adorn the hills in North Marocco are on 

 the slopes of the Great Atlas reduced to two, and those 

 the least conspicuous. On the other hand, the number of 

 bushy Labiatas was here largely increased, and included 

 many peculiar species not known to grow elsewhere ; and 

 there were many Umbelliferce, of which several were not 

 yet sufficiently advanced for recognition. Of LeguminoscB, 

 which everywhere play a conspicuous part in the flora of 

 this region, the most striking novelty was a new Goronilla 

 (C. ramosissima. Ball), that forms a low bush, with very 

 numerous slender intricate branches, covered at this 



