A cushion plant (Anabasis aretioides) of the north-western Sahara, frequently shows dead leaves on the exposed side whilst the plant is in full vigour on the sheltered side.
Roos, i., containing the Anabasis (Teubner series, 1907).
Here the gravelly desert is characterized by cushion plants, such as Anabasis aretioides; by switch plants, such as Retama Retam; and specially by spiny plants, such as Zizyphus Lotus and Zilla macropteris; whereas succulent plants are rare.
By his eighth year he had read Aesop's Fables, Xenophon's Anabasis, and the whole of Herodotus, and was acquainted with Lucian, Diogenes Laertius, Isocrates and six dialogues of Plato (see his Autobiography).
The history of Cyrus and of the retreat of the Greeks is told by Xenophon in his Anabasis (where he tries to veil the actual participation of the Spartans).