HISTORY ETHNOGRAPHY NATURE WINE-MAKING SITE MAP
Selected and rare materials, excerpts and observations from ancient, medieval and contemporary authors, travelers and researchers about Cyprus.
 
 
 
 
uses Google technology and indexes only and selectively internet - libraries having books with free public access
 
  Previous Next  

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

View PDF version of this page


  Previous First Next