Journal of Excursion to Syria and Palestine 1860

This work is printed for the first time from a manuscript by Joseph Dalton Hooker. The journey is undoubtedly the first scientific research to have been carried on the Cedar Grove of Mount Lebanon. Although research into the botany of Syria started as early as 1575 with the German scholar Leonard Rauwolf. The mapping of the grove which was carried out by Captain Mansell, the beautiful water-colours and drawings by Hooker and Hambury together with the massive quantities of data and several conclusions that Hooker reached during this journey made this research a landmark in understanding the history of one of the oldest known trees in Syria, as well as in formulating significant theories of the geographical distribution of plants in Syrian land.