62 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE 



Urginea Scilla covers the ground for miles, and grows sometimes to the 

 exclusion of everything else. It appears to be a scourge to the fellahin. 

 Great heaps of its bulbs, the size of a melon, are often met with, and lines 

 of its growth are commonly left to mark off each cultivator's allotted space. 

 Asphodelus ramosus, Linn., is nearly as common. The brilliant anemone 

 [A. coronaria, Linn.), the ' lily of the field,' was picked in flower on the 

 last day of the year. The curious stringy Thymelcea hirsuta, whose ac- 

 quaintance I first made on the shores of Brindisi on the outward journey, 

 is profusely common. Between Bir es Sebi and Gaza the species now in 

 growth are almost altogether of the Mediterranean type. A few desert 

 species occur, but chiefly of a Syrian or Mesopotamian character, as 

 Caylusea canescens, Deverra iortuosa, Alhagi maurorum, Peganum 

 harmala, Ciirullus colocynthis, Artemisia herba-aiba, and Anabasis 

 articulata. 



The universal ' rimth ' (Anabasis or Salsola) of the Sinai Bedawin 

 is called by the Doheriyeh Arabs 'Shegar.' It may be that the Arabs 

 put off inquiries from one whom they perceive to be unlearned in their 

 language with trivial and unmeaning terms ; but the results of my short 

 experience would tend to show that little importance can be attached to 

 these local names. Different tribes and places yielded different terms, so 

 that on comparing my collection of Arab plant-names with those given 

 by several other writers, hardly two were identical, or even alike. In 

 the Serbdl district of Sinai, Widy Rimthi takes its name from the 

 Anabasis. 



The soft note of the trumpeter bullfinch, rising and falling as if borne on 

 the wind, while the bird is concealed on the ground somewhere close by, 

 often arrested my attention. It was impossible to tell whether it was 

 ten yards or ten times that distance away. 



Travelling west past Tell Abu Hareireh to Gaza, the following plants 

 occurred in addition to those mentioned already about Bir es Seb4 : 

 Malcolmia puichella, Boiss.; Matthiola humilis, D.C.; Alyssum Libyca, 

 Viv.; Erucaria microcarpa, Boiss.; Capsella byrsa-pastoris, Linn.; Poiy- 

 carpon succulentum, Del.; Dianthus multipunctatus, Ser.; Silene rigidula, 

 Sibth. ; Ononis serrata, Forsk. ; Hyperiaim tetrapterum, Fres., forma; 

 Erodium hirtum, F.; Bupleurum linearifolium, D.C. (?); Carthamus 

 glaucus,M.B.; Thrincia tuberosa, D.C. ; Tolpisaltissima, Pers.; Scorzonera 



