Of herbs possessing some value for man, Phoenicia produces sage, rosemary, lavender, rue, and wormwood.[259] Of flowers she has an extraordinary abundance.  In early spring (March and April) not only the plains, but the very mountains, except where they consist of bare rock, are covered with a variegated carpet of the loveliest hues[260] from the floral wealth scattered over them.  Bulbous plants are especially numerous.  Travellers mention hyacinths, tulips, ranunculuses, gladioli, anemones, orchises, crocuses of several kinds—­blue and yellow and white, arums, amaryllises, cyclamens, &c., besides heaths, jasmine, honeysuckle, clematis, multiflora roses, rhododendrons, oleander, myrtle, astragalus, hollyhocks, convolvuli, valerian, red linum, pheasant’s eye, guelder roses, antirrhinums, chrysanthemums, blue campanulas, and mandrakes.  The orchises include “Ophrys atrata, with its bee-like lip, another like the spider orchis, and a third like the man orchis;"[261] the cyclamens are especially beautiful, “nestling under every stone and lavish of their loveliness with graceful tufts of blossoms varying in hue from purest white to deepest purple pink."[262] The multiflora rose is not common, but where it grows “covers the banks of streams with a sheet of blossom;"[263] the oleanders fringe their waters with a line of ruby red; the mandrake (Mandragora officinalis) is “one of the most striking plants of the country, with its flat disk of very broad primrose-like leaves, and its central bunch of dark blue bell-shaped blossom."[264] Ferns also abound, and among them is the delicate maidenhair.[265]

The principal garden vegetables grown at the present day are melons, cucumbers, gourds, pumpkins, turnips, carrots, and radishes.[266] The kinds of grain most commonly cultivated are wheat, barley, millet, and maize.  There is also an extensive cultivation of tobacco, indigo, and cotton, which have been introduced from abroad in comparatively modern times.  Oil, silk, and fruits are, however, still among the chief articles of export; and the present wealth of the country is attributable mainly to its groves and orchards, its olives, mulberries, figs, lemons, and oranges.

The zoology of Phoenicia has not until recently attracted very much attention.  At present the list of land animals known to inhabit it is short,[267] including scarcely more than the bear, the leopard or panther, the wolf, the hyaena, the jackal, the fox, the hare, the wild boar, the ichneumon, the gazelle, the squirrel, the rat, and the mole.  The present existence of the bear within the limits of the ancient Phoenicia has been questioned,[268] but the animal has been seen in Lebanon by Mr. Porter,[269] and in the mountains of Galilee by Canon Tristram.[270] The species is the Syrian bear (Ursus syriacus), a large and fierce beast, which, though generally frugivorous, will under the presser of hunger attack both men and animals.  Its main habitat is, no doubt, the less