108 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE PAEK AND GAEDENS OF YILDIZ, CONSTANTINOPLE. 

 By D. S. Fish, F.E.H.S. 



Situated between the suburbs of Becliiktaclie and Ortakeny, Yildiz 

 occupies a magnificent site on the Bosphorus, the panorama seen 

 from the higher parts of the park comprising a wide stretch of the 

 Asiatic coast from Scutari to Tchenguekeiiy, near Stamboul, the Sea of 

 Marmora and the Princes Islands. In clear weather the distant snowy 

 summit of Mount Olympus can also be seen. 



The slopes of Yildiz are so varied that it is doubtful if even the 

 most monotonous form of planting could have taken away their charm. 

 As it is, the arrangement of the park is far from being ineffective, 

 although a much larger variety of trees could certainly have been well 

 employed, while judicious thinning would have resulted in the better 

 development of many of the trees. 



Several little lakes are scattered through the park, but as a rule 

 they are too formal in outline, and scarcely agree with their surround- 

 ings. The prettiest of these lakes is situated in the lowest part of the 

 park, and being wooded down to the water's edge with forest trees it 

 has a natural appearance. 



Considering the nature of the Turkish summer, the scarcity of sub- 

 tropical plants at Yildiz is somewhat remarkable. There is probably 

 less vegetation of this kind at Constantinople than in the London parks ! 

 Almost all the trees, shrubs, and other ornamental plants are of kinds 

 which one would expect to find in an English pleasure ground, and 

 consequently the richly wooded slopes of Y^ildiz have a distinctly 

 northern appearance. 



The most conspicuous of the flowering trees are the Horse Chestnut 

 in red, white, and double -flowered varieties, the Judas tree {Cercis), 

 with its numerous purple blossoms, and the False Acacia, Rohinia 

 Pseudacacia, with its varieties, Decaisneana, Bessoniana, glutinosa, 

 fastigiata, rosea, and umhraculifera. All of these trees flower in the 

 spring or in the early summer, and they then form a magnificent feature 

 in the landscape. 



The Scots and Aleppo Pine are conspicuous conifers, and there are 

 also several plants of Piniis viacrocarpa (Coulteri), with its extremely 

 large cones. The Lebanon, Atlas, and Indian Cedars occur, but have 

 not as yet grown to any great height. Ccdrus atlantica and C. Deodara 

 are found to withstand drought better than most conifers. The Maiden- 

 hair Tree succeeds, as do the ordinary and variegated forms of both 

 the common and Irish Y'ew. Taxodium distichuni and T. sempervirens, 

 Cephalotaxis, Thmjopsis dolohraia, and various Cupressus are also met 

 with. 



