THE  FLORA  OF  PALESTINE  AND  SYRIA. 
433 
THE  FLORA  OF  PALESTINK  AND  SYRIA. 
Br  Rev.  George  E.  Post. 
Palestine  and  Syria  embrace  four  distinct  botanical  regions  : 
I.  The  sea-coast  plain  and  lower  slopes  of  the  hills,  with  the 
deeper  valleys,  which  run  far  jnto  the  heart  of  Lebanon  and  the 
hill  country  of  Galilee.  The  climate  of  this  region  is  subtropical, 
and  fosters  the  development  of  the  banana,  the  palm,  the  sugar- 
cane and  the  orange.  In  this  region  frost  is  almost  unknown, 
snow  is  quite  rare,  being  seen  only  once  in  ten  or  fifteen  years, 
and  the  hot  sun  of  summer  pouring  on  a  soil  made  humid  by 
irrigations,  develops  a  luxuriant  vegetable  life. 
II.  The  mountain  sides,  from  1000  to  4000  feet  above  the 
sea,  with  the  valley  of  Coele  Syria,  and  the  plain  of  the  Orontes. 
Here  the  flora  changes.  The  palm  will  no  longer  flourish.  The 
banana  refuses  to  fruit.  The  orange  and  the  lemon  cease  to  be 
productive,  and  their  place  is  taken  by  the  oak  and  the  willow, 
and  the  pine  and  the  maple.  The  olive  and  the  mulberry  are 
equally  productive  in  this  and  the  foregoing  region,  but  in  this 
form  almost  the  only  orchards,  while  on  the  plain  they  share 
the  attention  of  the  farmer  with  the  before-mentioned  trees.  In 
this  region  wheat  and  barley  flourish,  and  the  vine  attains  the 
most  perfect  development.  The  herbaceous  flora  of  these  two 
regions  is  similar  in  type,  except  that  as  we  rise  on  the  moun- 
tain sides  the  Tetragontheca  and  Stachys,  and  Squill  and  Pan- 
cratium of  the  plains  begin  to  yield  to  the  thorny  mountain 
species  of  Astragalus,  and  Tragacanth,  and  Eupigium,  and  the 
aromatic  Origanums  and  Teucriums 
III.  A  third  region  comprises  a  small  part  of  Coele  Syria, 
near  the  head  waters  of  the  Litany  and  Orontes,  with  the  plain 
east  of  Damascus  and  Hums.  The  soil  of  this  region  is  thin, 
being  fit  only  for  the  production  of  grasses  and  thorny  herbs, 
the  scanty  pasture  of  the  Arab's  flocks  and  herds.  Here  grow 
Centaur ea  dumulosa,  and  Delphinium  anthoroides,  and  many 
Astragali  and  other  Leguminosse,  while  not  a  solitary  tree,  or 
even  shrub,  enlivens  the  dreary  landscape.  It  is  the  type  of 
those  great  waterless  plains,  which,  for  a  short  space,  interrupted 
by  the  fertile  district  of  Mesopotamia,  extend  eastward  through 
Persia  to  the  great  desert  of  Gobi. 
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