THE RIVIERA

New Zealand Tablet, 27 August 1908, Page 37

THE RIVIERA

The Riviera is a constant source of delight to those who love flowers and beautiful vegetation of all kinds (writes Sir Ray Lankester in the Daily Telegraph). But few of -its visitors appreciate the. fact that it •is really from end to > end" one big" garden, cultivated for ages by its inhabitants-, and full of plants introduced* by man" which at present seem at first sight to be characteristic natives- of it, but are, in reality,, quite distinct from its primitive -vegetation. This primitive - vegetation is now repre-sented-only, .in what is locally called the .'• maquis ' — what we Should perhaps term the * scrub- or * bush ' in English. It comprises some pines, the juniper, the lovely rock roses, balsams, rosemary, the giant heath (bruyere), . from which our briarroot pipes- are made.^he- larger thyme, "the myrtle, the rose of Provence, two kinds of lavender, and many aromatic plants with grey hairy leaves, and . often provided with sharp thorns as additional defences against browsing goats. The delicious perfumes'of these rhardy, inhabitants of the dry, rocky grounds, where little ; or no grass,- can flourish, are -developed by them as a protection,- against^ browsing animals, who cannot tolerate much of these, pungent, volatile oils, although. mankind extracts them and

iises-them in the manufacture of such scents as eau de Cologne,

andjalsos-in.'cookery, Ma,ny- a" visitor-to the Riviera never strays - from^the cultivated* fields-and roadways into, this scrubland. The olive tree, which- forms .so prominent and beautiful a feature in -the. panorama? of gardens which unrolls.- itself as we steam or drive along -the coast; from .-Toulon to Mentone and from Mentone to Genoa and Spezzia, is not a native plant ; it was introduced in prehistoric times, and has been again and again re-established

by emigrants from' Italy*; but it was -brought to Italy from the East. It is astonishing how many of the cultivated trees of the Riviera . have the same kind of, history— the : vine came from India in prehistoric times, the fig tree and the peach tree more , recently from Persia, the lemon from India,, the orange from China— all of them were . introduced in very • ancient times to • the eastern parts of the Mediterranean, basin, and so gradually were carried to the shores of the Ligurian sea, and would dia out here were they not to a certain extent under the care of - ownership. . ,