Of shrubs, below the rank of trees, the most important are the lentisk (Pistachia lentiscus), the bay, the arbutus (A. andrachne), the cypress, the oleander, the myrtle, the juniper, the barberry, the styrax (S. officinalis), the rhododendron, the bramble, the caper plant, the small-leaved holly, the prickly pear, the honeysuckle, and the jasmine.  Myrtle and rhododendron grow luxuriantly on the flanks of Bargylus, and are more plentiful than any other shrubs in that region.[233] Eastern Lebanon has abundant scrub of juniper and barberry;[234] while on the western slopes their place is taken by the bramble, the myrtle, and the clematis.[235] The lentisk, which rarely exceeds the size of a low bush, is conspicuous by its dark evergreen leaves and numerous small red berries;[236] the arbutus—­not our species, but a far lighter and more ornamental shrub, the Arbutus andrachne—­bears also a bright red fruit, which colours the thickets;[237] the styrax, famous for yielding the gum storax of commerce, grows towards the east end of Carmel, and is a very large bush branching from the ground, but never assuming the form of a tree; it has small downy leaves, white flowers like orange blossoms, and round yellow fruit, pendulous from slender stalks, like cherries.[238] Travellers in Phoenicia do not often mention the caper plant, but it was seen by Canon Tristram hanging from the fissures of the rock, in the cleft of the Litany,[239] amid myrtle and bay and clematis.  The small-leaved holly was noticed by Mr. Walpole on the western flank of Bargylus.[240] The prickly pear is not a native of Asia, but has been introduced from the New World.  It has readily acclimatised itself, and is very generally employed, in Phoenicia, as in the neighbouring countries, for hedges.[241]

The fruit-trees of Phoenicia are numerous, and grow most luxuriantly, but the majority have no doubt been introduced from other countries, and the time of their introduction is uncertain.  Five, however, may be reckoned as either indigenous or as cultivated at any rate from a remote antiquity—­the vine, the olive, the date-palm, the walnut, and the fig.  The vine is most widely spread.  Vineyards cover large tracts in the vicinity of all the towns; they climb up the sides of Carmel, Lebanon, and Bargylus,[242] hang upon the edge of precipices, and greet the traveller at every turn in almost every region.  The size of individual vines is extraordinary.  “Stephen Schultz states that in a village near Ptolemais (Acre) he supped under a large vine, the stem of which measured a foot and a half in diameter, its height being thirty feet; and that the whole plant, supported on trellis, covered an area of fifty feet either way.  The bunches of grapes weighed from ten to twelve pounds and the berries were like small plums."[243] The olive in Phoenicia is at least as old as the Exodus, for it was said of Asher, who was assigned the more southern part of that country—­“Let him be acceptable