CHAP. III. 



CONTINENT OF EUROPE. 



171 



silkworm are products of culture. " This region," Capt. Cook observes, 

 " contains the vast pine forests of Aragon, of the Sierra dc Cuenca, Segura, 

 and the Guadarrama, and of the central range of Castile. It is characterised 

 by the Spanish ilex; the Quercus Toza ; and the Quercus prasina, or a 

 species presumed to be so, which is widely spread over its middle elevation ; 

 by the white cistus, which grows in prodigious quantities in some of the 

 middle parts ; and by the absence of those which are enumerated as marking 

 the divisions on each side of it." The third region lies along the coast of the 

 Mediterranean, and is characterised by a dry and burning summer, and a mild 

 winter. In this region the lemon, the orange, the palm, the sugar-cane, the 

 cotton tree, the Ceratonia tS'lliqua, are the common ligneous plants in cul- 

 tivation. This region contains no extensive forests, but abundance of orange 

 orchards, olive grounds, and vineyards. 



It would occupy too much space, to enter at such length into the ligneous 

 vegetation of each region, as would do justice to the subject, and we must 

 therefore refer the reader to Captain Cook's Sketches, or to an extract from 

 them, made with the kind permission of the author, which will be found in the 

 twelfth volume of the Gard. Mag. In the third part of this work, when we 

 come to treat of particular species, we shall find much interesting matter, sup- 

 plied from Captain Cook's volumes, respecting the genera Pinus, hies, Zarix, 

 and Quercus. 



The most remarkable discovery made by Captain Cook in Spain, and which 

 was made about the same time by Mr. Drummond, the British consul at Mo- 

 rocco, is, that the alerce, a timber which is of unparalleled durability, is from 

 the Jliuja articulata. The I'oofs of the oldest churches in Spain are of this tim- 

 ber j and some of them, as that of the mosque of Cordova, &c., are known to 

 have existed for nine centuries, the timber, as may be proved by a specimen 

 sent by Captain Cook to the Horticultural Society of London, being still per- 

 fectly sound. Captain Cook, also, has collected much new and original inform- 

 ation respecting the Q. /'lex ; and it is remarkable, that the true Spanish 

 evergreen oak (Q. /. australis j, of which acorns can be procured in abundance 

 froni' Gibraltar, had escajied the notice of both native and foreign botanists, 

 till it was examined by Captain Cook. 



SuBSECT. 3. Of the Trees and Shrubs of Turkey and Modern Greece. 



After having given, in p. 17., the enumeration of the trees and shrubs men- 

 tioned by Theophrastus, and in p. IGi. those known to modern botanists, it will 

 not be supposed that we can have much to add respecting such a country as 

 Turkey, scarcely, as yet, in the dawn of civilisation ; and where, unless the 

 whole surface of the country can be called a garden, there are none but in the 

 cemeteries. 



These cemeteries are distinguished by their immense cj^presses, and by the 

 occasional appearance in them'of the weeping willow. The most common tree 

 in the neighbourhood of Constantinople is the Quercus Cerris, and, next to this, 

 the Celtis' australis, the pinaster, and the stone pine. Other trees, considered 

 interesting in Britain, which abound in the neighbourhood of Constantinople, 

 are the following : f ercis 5iliquastrum, which is found clotliing the shores of 

 the Bosphorus and Mount Libanus ; Ceratonia ^Siliqua, C'upressus sempervi- 

 rens horizontalis, Diospjh-os Lotus, i'iseagnus angustifolia, the wild olive, 

 Zlzyphus vulgaris, Paliurus aculeatus, ilfeha Azedardck, Acacia Jidibrhsin, Pis- 

 tacia Terebinthus, and P. Lentiscus, and /Smilax aspera, and S. excelsa. S. 

 exce'isa climbs to the tops of the highest trees ; and, descending in streaming 

 branches, converts an avenue of trees into two lofty green walls, which, in 

 autumn, are covered with a profusion of rich red berries. There are, also, 

 Hedeva Helix chrysocarpa; and Cerasus sativa, two varieties, one of which is 

 of enormous size, "and grows along the northern coast of Asia Minor, whence 

 the original cherry was brought to Europe, and the other is found in the woods 

 in the interior of Asia INIinor, and produces an amber-coloured transparent 



