330 Topographical Remarks regarding Afghanistan. 



Pistachia Terebinthus and tamarisk, those that have been met 

 with occurred in orchards or cultivated places ; these are the 

 vine, peachy apricot, mulberry, walnut, cherry, plum, pear, ap- 

 ple, quince, pomegranate, the poplar, (Populusalba,) the willow, 

 the singed, white-thorn, and plane tree, (Platanus orientalis.) 



In the hills, or Kohistan of Cabul, various species of pines 

 and cedars are found, along with the oak, elm, ash, and 

 juniper. One of the species of pine yields an edible seed 

 termed the chilgoza, and to be had in the bazars in abun- 

 dance ; a shrub resembling the laburnum, a species of Cytisus, 

 is very common in the hills about Istalif and Chareekar. 



A species of wormwood, or Absinthium, abounds over the 

 whole of the arid plains in Afghanistan ; it diffuses a strong 

 aromatic odour, and furnishes food for camels, and in many 

 places is the only sort of firewood amongst the thorny shrubs 

 with which the sterile plains are covered. The camel- thorn is 

 scarcely ever absent, the Hedysarum alhagi belonging to the 

 natural family Leguminosae, as also prickly bushes resembling 

 the furze and broom, many species of Astragalus, and the 

 wild liquorice. 



Amongst herbaceous plants are found very generally dis- 

 tributed the natural families of the Boraginese and Cruciferee ; 

 of the former, are Anchusa, Myosotis, Onosma, Echium, 

 Lithospermum ; and of the latter an order eminently Euro- 

 pean, Hesperis, Cheiranthus, Sinapis, Arabis, Raphanus, and 

 Nasturtium. 



Bulbous plants are also numerous of the lily tribe, Hypoxis, 

 Iridese, Tulipa, Anthericum, Asphodelus, Allium, Ornithoga- 

 lum Sedum, Sempervivum tectorum, (or house leek,) and 

 many species of Euphorbia, of the Compositae Scorzonera, 

 (or viper's grass,) Leontodon, Taraxacum, many species of 

 thistles, as also the Camomile or Anthemis, with several of 

 the Labiates. 



Amongst the most valuable of the plants, is the Ferula 

 persica, which produces the Asafcetida. It is one of the 



