174 JOUENAL OF THE EOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



SOME FLOWERS OF GIBRALTAR AND ALGECIRAS. 



By Marion H. Mason. 



We left England on February 1 amidst the gloom and mourning of the 

 day before the Queen's funeral. A thick fog hid the Essex marshes from 

 sight as we steamed from Liverpool Street to Tilbury, and detained us 

 some hours in the river. So, after a tossing in the Bay of Biscay, it was 

 a pleasant change and contrast indeed to be able to sit on deck in the mild 

 warm air of the Portuguese coast. The voyage is by no means devoid of 

 interest. There are many glimpses of the land, the views of course 

 depending upon which places are passed by day. Cape St. Vincent is 

 most striking, and nothing can be more wonderful than Cintra, with its 

 old palace perched upon the very crest of the sharp ridge of rock, in 

 outline against the sky, with precipices falling straight from it on both 

 sides. Exposed as it is to the full gales of the Atlantic, it is not sur- 

 prising that the King should have desired a more sheltered abode ; though 

 the new palace, built at some distance north of Cintra, and well seen from 

 the sea, might be more attractive. The huge building, looking like an 

 asylum or kindred institution, stands alone, uncompromisingly straight 

 and bare on the low hills facing the sea, without a tree near it. 



It was like entering another world when on the fifth morning we 

 woke in the Straits of Gibraltar in brilliant sunshine, with blue sea and 

 hills dotted on the Spanish side with white cottages, and rich in colouring 

 on the African side as well. 



It seems to have been only recently discovered that Gibraltar is an 

 excellent starting point for excursions into Spain as well as Morocco, and 

 it is now much frequented for that purpose. But otherwise few people stay 

 on the Rock who are not stationed there as officers in the army or navy 

 or some other profession, or who do not come to visit friends or relations 

 thus engaged. The very limited space of the Rock is not an attraction. 

 Moreover a pass is required for all the more interesting parts of the 

 jealously guarded Rock, and it is not a place where one may wander at 

 will in search of flowers or come upon them accidentally in a casual 

 ramble. Comparatively few persons therefore know how interesting it is 

 from a botanical point of view. There are said to be over a hundred 

 kinds of plants which are peculiar to the Rock and to grow nowhere else. 

 As to whether this is so my experience is too limited to enable me to form 

 an opinion ; but as far as it goes I have found the Gibraltar flora as a 

 whole to be, as might be expected, midway between those of the south 

 coast of Spain and the north coast of Africa, which are also not very 

 generally well known. 



Perhaps the most striking flower of the Rock is the huge light blue 

 Scilla peruviana, which was in flower in March. The best and finest 

 grow on the north side of the Rock, above the path to the Galleries. I 

 found it also a little later at Tangier, but it was not yet in full blossom, 

 and neither so fine nor so abundant as at Gibraltar. I afterwards — at 



