ZOXE OF LAURELS. 
117 
May: and the culture of tlio bread-fruit trjc of Otalieite, 
that of the cinnamon tree of tlio Moluccas, the coffee-tree 
of Arabia, and the cacao-tree of America, bare been tried 
with success. On several points of the coast the country 
assumes the character of a tropical landscape; and we 
perceive that the region of the palms extends beyond the 
limits of the torrid zone. The cnamccrops and the date-tree 
ilourish in the fertile plains of Murviedro, on the coasts of 
Genoa, and in Provence, near Antibes, between the thirty- 
ninth and forty-fourth degrees of latitude; a few trees of 
the latter species, planted within the walls of the city of 
Pome, resist even the cold of 2 5° below freezing point. 
But if the south of Europe as yet only partially shares the 
gifts lavished by nature on the zone of palms, the island of 
Tenerifib, situated on the parallel of Egypt, southern Persia, 
and Elorida, is adorned with the greater part of the vegetable 
forms which add to the majesty of the landscape in the 
regions near the equator. 
On reviewing the different tribes of indigenous plants, 
we regret not finding trees with small pinnated leaves, and 
arborescent gramina. No species of the numerous family 
of the sensitive-plants has migrated as far as the archi- 
pelago of the Canary Islands, while on both continents 
they have been seen in the thirty-eighth and fortieth 
degrees of latitude. On a more careful examination ol 
the plants of the islands of Laucerota and Porteveutura, 
which are nearest the coast of Morocco, wo may perhaps 
find a few mimosas among many other plants of the African 
flora. 
The second zone, that of the laurels, comprises the woody 
part of Teneriffe : this is the region of the springs, whicli 
gush forth amidst turf always verdant, and never parched 
with drought. Lofty forests crown the hills leading to the 
volcano, and in them are found four species of laurel,* an oak 
nearly resembling the Quercus Tumerif of the mountains o! 
Thibet, the Yisnea mocanera, the Myrica Faya of the Azores, 
a native olive (Olea exeelsa), which is the largest tree of this 
zone, two species of Sideroxylon, the leaves of which are 
* Laurus indica, I., foetens, L. nobilis, and L. Tit. With these trcei 
• re mingled the Ar.lisia exeelsa, llhamnus glandulnsus, Erica arborw 
and E. texo. 
t Qnereus eangritnsis, Eroussonnet. 
