66 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE 



fruticosum, Desf.; Thymus capitatus, Linn.; Lavandula stoschas, Linn., 

 and Rhamnus punctata, Boiss. The Retem broom was in flower, very- 

 pretty, white variegated with purple. I found it once previously in blow 

 in the desert.'^' Lawsonia alba, Linn, (henna) was seen several times, 

 but usually here (as at 'Akabah) either in or on the verge of enclosures. 

 No doubt it remains from ancient gardens at Engedi, where it was, I 

 believe, abundant. It is native much farther east. 



In the gardens next the hotel at Jaffa were some very interesting 

 plants. I did not learn their history, or who made the collection. 

 Some of the Sinaitic and Dead Sea plants were there — the handsome 

 trailing pea, Dolichos lablab, which I found in the Gh6r, a widely culti- 

 vated plant in hot countries, but perhaps originally introduced from 

 India. The Sinaitic Gomphocarpos, a milky asclepiad with pods full of 

 silk, one of the most remarkable species in the peninsula, was here also ; 

 it differed, however, from the Sinaitic plant in being shrubby and about 

 6 feet high, while the desert plant averaged from a foot to a foot and a 

 half 



Ricinus communis (the castor-oil) ; Echaverias, Lavandula stoechas (the 

 handsome purple woolly lavender just mentioned), and quite a collection 

 of Acacias and Mimosas, with oranges, bananas, indiarubber trees, fan- 

 palms. Eucalyptus, Mesembryanthemums, and many others made up a 

 tropical garden which will well repay the traveller's visit. I was 

 peculiarly interested to see my Boucerosia from Mount Hor here, a cactus- 

 like plant, which seems to be a new species. Can it be, like the 

 Dolichos, an ancient weed of cultivation ? When we let the mind go 

 back to times of ancient civilization, to the traffic and merchandise of 

 pilgrims, monks, and Bedawin, of Israelites and Phoenicians, Pharaohs 

 and Ptolemys, Greeks and Romans, Turks and Crusaders, caravans and 

 ships laden with food, with gums, spices, fruits, and wares during the 

 whole history of mankind, we must reflect that many plants we now 

 view as inhabitants, especially those of any economic use, may have 

 hailed originally from remote sources. Speculations of this kind, at 



* This is the Hebrew ' rothem ' or ' rotem,' translated juniper in the Old Testament. 

 The same name (Retama) is applied to a species of a closely-allied genus, the Spartocytisus 

 nubigenus, of the middle zone of vegetation of the Peak of TenerifFe, as I learn from Mr. 

 Moseley's ' Notes by a Naturalist on the " Challenger," ' p. 5. 



