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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 346 View PDF version of this page may be said to have disappeared. The ilex is the most common of all woods upon the Troodos range and upon other mountains, but the natives have made such constant attacks upon this quality for the manufacture of charcoal that it is seldom met with as a forest-tree. It is extremely hardy, and through continual hacking, it has grown into dense bushes which are generally about eight feet high ; but in very remote localities among the mountains I have found it in the shape of timber growing to the height of forty feet. There is a third variety with a prickly leaf resembling
holly, of an intensely dark green.
• Pines.— I have only met with three varieties—the Pinus marìtima, Pinus /arido, and the stone pine. The latter is very rare, but may be seen at Platraes. The natives invariably pick the cones of this species when green for the sake of the small edible nuts afforded by the seeds.
The Phms laricio is a handsome tree with a dark
foliage and branches that droop regularly from the
summit, widening towards the base. It is difficult to
determine the maximum size that would be attained
by this species, as the Cypriotes seldom allow any tree
to remain uninjured. Th e usual size of the Laricio
on the Troodos range is about fifty feet in height,
with a girth of six feet, but I have frequently seen
specimens of nine feet in girth, and about seventy to
eighty feet in height.
The Pinus maritima has a lighter foliage and the
branches are more spreading, but the size is about the
same as the Laricio. Both these species are rich in
tar and turpentine.
Cypress.—There are two varieties—the dwarf, which covers the flat-topped limestone hills of the Carpas
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