172 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TREES. 



PART I. 



fruit, of a most delicious flavom*. These trees attain the height of 100 ft., with 

 straight trunks of 40 ft. and upwards. Phce^nix dactyllfera, and PMtanus 

 orientalis, are also frequent. " The Turks," Dr. Walsh observes, " on the birth 

 of a son, plant a platanus, as they do a cypress on the death of one. In the 

 court of the seraglio is a venerable tree of this species, which, tradition says, 

 was planted by Mahomet II., after the taking of Constantinople, to com- 

 memorate the birth of his son, Bajazet II. ; the trunk of which is 50 ft. in 

 circumference. There is another, of more enormous size, at Buyiik-dere, on the 

 Bosphorus : it stands in a valley, and measm-es 45 yards in circumfer- 

 ence ! It, in fact, now consists of fourteen large trees, growing in a circle from 

 the same root, but separating at some distance from the ground. The Turks 

 sometimes encamp here ; and the Ben-Bashee pitches his tents in the centre 

 of this tree of trees." 



Cistus crispus, creticus, and salvisefolius cover all the hiUs of the Archipelago 

 and Sea of Mai-mora. All of them have the hypocistus growing on their 

 roots, a succulent parasite of a rich red colour, described by Dioscorides ; 

 Vitex J'gnus-castus, JVerium Oleander, Quercus -(2^'gilops, Q. cocclfera, and 

 Q. Taiizin var. pubescens, Pinus Pinaster var. markima, and P. Plnea, -La- 

 vandula 5'toe^chas, JXuscus racemosus, K6h-euteri« paniculata, and a number of 

 others. Puxus balearicus grows wild on all the rocky surfaces both of Euro- 

 pean and of Asiatic Turkey, and the wood is sent to England in large quan- 

 tities for the use of the wood-engraver, though it is found greatly inferior to 

 that of the Puxus sempervirens. This information respecting the trees and 

 shrubs in the neighbourhood of Constantinople is taken from a very interesting 

 paper on the subject, by Dr. Robert Walsh, which will be found in the Trans- 

 actions of the Horticultural Societi/ of London for 1 824, and in the Gardener's 

 Magazine, vol. i. p. 293. 



The ligneous vegetation of the Ionian Islands is given by Pouqueville and 

 Olivier, and resembles that of Greece generally. Whether any foreign species 

 have been introduced, since these islands came under the protection of the 

 British government, we have been unable to ascertain. 



CHAP. IV. 



OF THE TREES AND SHRUBS 01" ASIA, AFRICA, AMERICA, AND AUSTRA- 

 LIA, WHICH ARE SUITABLE FOR TEMPERATE CLIMATES. 



In our notice of the ligneous flora of these countries, we shall confine 

 ourselves entirely to such species as are known, or are supposed, to be suitable 

 for enduring the open air in Britain ; and, as in the preceding chapter, we 

 shall chiefly confine ourselves to giving lists compiled from local floras. We 

 shall take the different countries in the usual order of Asia, Africa, America, 

 Australia, and Polynesia. Those who wish more extensive information on this 

 subject, may consult some elaborate communications of M. Mirbel in the 

 Memoires dii Museum, vol. xiv. p. 378.; or, in an English dress, by Dr. Hooker, 

 in Murray's Eiict/clo2)(sdia of Geography. 



Sect. I. Of the Trees and Shrubs suitable for Temperate Climates, 

 indigenous or inlroduced, in Asia. 



According to our enumeration (p. 126.), 183 ligneous plants, which endure 

 the open air in Britain, have been introduced from different parts of Asia, 

 and chiefly from Siberia, Neiial, and China. Additions, as we have already 

 observed, when noticing the flora of Asiatic Russia, may still be expected 

 from the former country; and, considering the situation of China, and the 

 character of its surface, when that immense territory comes to be explored by 



