Botanical Notices from Spain. 1 13 XIII. — Botanical Notices from Spain. By Mcritz Willkojim*. [Continued from vol. xv. p. 41D.J No. IV. Gkantada, August 12, 1344. Weakied M-lth the vievv' of the endless plains of the Mancha, which present only an aspect of corn-fields and brown arid lieath, here and there broken by a copse of the Qucrcus Ilex or Pbius Pinea, I was not a little delighted, when on the morning of the 10th of July I descried the blue mountain-ranges of the Sierra Morena, the frontier of the long-desii'ed Andalusia. This long and wide chain of moun-tains, which rises in gentle gradations to a height scarcely exceeding 6000 feet, is at this point almost wholly covered with copses of oak. The rivulets, which are particularly numerous on the south side, permeating the valleys, and emptying their w^aters into the Guadal-quivir, give birth to a richer vegetation than I had hitherto observed in the Spanish mountains, and were chiefly inclosed wnth flowering oleanders, ash-trees and elms, interspersed with the vine, which grows almost wild here, as in the lowest part of the Sierra Nevada, and hangs in picturesque festoons from the tops of the trees down to the ground. After traversing the celebrated Pass of Spinasperros, and crossing many wdde mountain-ridges, we arrive at the ancient Swabian colonies of S'^ Helena and Carolina ; and the environs of these beau-tiful localities, especially of Carolina, show the traveller, by their fer-tility, that he has reached the happy land of Andalusia. Hedges of Agave americana and Opuntia vulgaris, which surround the intermina-ble fields of wheat, maize, hemp, beans, garbanzos ( Cicer arietinum, L. ), tomato (^Lycopersicon esculentwn. Mill.), pimento (^Capsicwn annmim, L.), plantations of mulberry-, olive-, almond-and vine-trees, which extend to the banks of the Guadalquivir, recall to mind the fruitful plains of Valencia. The extensive and very baiTen Sierra de Jaen separates the wide valley of the Guadalquivir from the noble Vega of Granada, — the former so celebrated in history, which extends at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, rising like an immense wall with snow-capped summits to more than 11,000 feet in height, and bounded on the west by the Sierra Tejeda and Sierra de Alhama. Although, in the country around Granada, neither the date-and dwarf-palm, nor the orange-hedges of Valencia are found, yet the vegetation bears a far more southern character. I had nowhere before seen in Spain such a luxuriant and almost tropical vegetation, not excepting even Aran-juez, where it is evident that the cultivating hand of man has pro-duced by artificial irrigation that rich gi'owth of trees and plants of all kinds which convert this spot into a charming oasis in the deserts of New Castille. On one of the peninsular tracts of land formed by the small but celebrated rivers of the Jenil and Darro lies the ancient royal city of Granada, at the foot of the proud Alhambra, whose Moorish towers crown the last offshoot of the rocky wall which divides the valleys * Translated from the Botanische Zeitung, Nov. 29 and Dec. 6, 1844.
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