14 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE 



CHAPTER III. 



WADY LEBWEH to mount SINAI. 



Still ascending gradually, up Wady Lebweh, from 2,500 to 3,500 feet, 

 many interesting Sinai plants were gathered. Most of these are true 

 desert species, which reach about thus far, but they are mixed with others 

 of an intermediate elevation about corresponding to the Mediterranean 

 flora. From here come Glaucium arabicum, Fres. ; Caylusea canescens, 

 St. Hil. ; Cleome trinervia, Fres. ; Fagonia myriacantha, Boiss. ; 

 Tribulus terrestris, Linn. ; Peganum karmala, Linn. ; Neurada pro- 

 cumbens, Linn.; Santolina fragrantissima, Forsk. ; Artemisia herba-alba, 

 Asso. ; et var. laxifiora, Sieb. ; Anarrhinum pubescens, Fres. ; Tricho- 

 desma africana, R. Br. ; Heliotropium undulatum, Vahl. ; Gompho- 

 carpus sinaicus, Boiss. ; Ballota undulata, Fres. ; Teucrium politim, 

 Linn., j3 sinaicum ; Stachys affinis, Fres. ; Primula boveana, Dene. ; 

 Acanthodium spicatum,, Del. ; Forskahlea tenacissima, Linn. ; Andrachne 

 aspera, Spr. ; Asphodelus fistulosus, Linn. ; and others, the specimens 

 too bad to name. The labiates in the above group are characteristic of 

 the middle and upper zones of Sinai. 



On the summit of Zibb el Baheir, at 3,890 feet, a point which all 

 travellers should climb for the sake of the really splendid view, Gypsophila 

 rokejeka, Del. ; Helianthemum Lippii^ Pers. ; Iphiona montana ; and a 

 Poa, P. sinaica, St. (?), were gathered. A Psoralea occurs here 

 also, not found in a recognisable state. It may have been P. plicata, 

 Del. 



Of the plants just enumerated several are peculiar to Sinai. Others, 

 believed endemic, I found later on Mount Hor in Edom. 



In addition to the above it is to be remembered that the majority of 

 the earlier species met with occur throughout. , The chief failures are 

 Cleome arabica, Linn.., and Salsolaceas (except Anabasis), which are 

 mostly confined to the lower plain. The variable but always pretty little 

 Fagonia is continually arresting the attention by some new deviation. 

 Sometimes it is glabrous, sometimes viscid, sometimes very leafy ; at 

 others a bunch of twigs or thorns, trailing or sub-erect, while the flowers 



