Chapter 466

2394A very good charcoal might be made from it, but the wood is too valuable for such a purpose. It burns with a bright, clear flame, and throws out a considerable heat.

2395Although (in common, too, with other trees) it is used as a support for the vine, that does not any the more make it of the same nature as the fruit-trees.

2396The Ulmus effusa of Willdenow; the Ulmus montana of Smith:Flor. Brit.

2397The Ulmus campestris of Linnæus; the Ulmus marita of other botanists.

2398The ordinary elm, Fée thinks.

2399A variety of the Ulmus campestris, probably.

2400This name is still preserved by botanists. Pliny is incorrect in saying that the large elm produces no seed, the only difference being that the seed is smaller than in the other kinds. Columella, B. v. c. 6, contradicts the statement here made by Pliny, but says that itappearsto be sterile, in comparison with the others.

2401The Pinus maritima of Linnæus, which produces the greater part of the resins used in France, is found, however, in great abundance in the flat country of the Landes.

2402On the contrary, the yoke-elm, or horn-beam, grows almost exclusively on the plains; and the same with the cornel and the poplar.

2403The Rhus cotinus of Linnæus, the fustic. See B. xiii. c.41. This, however, imparts a yellow colour, while Pliny speaks of a purple. It has been asserted, however, that the roots of it produce a fine red. There is no tree in Europe that produces a purple for dyeing.

2404The maple, the ash, and the service-tree, are as often found in the plains as on the hills.

2405See c.43, and B. xxiv. c. 43. The Cornus sanguinea of Linnæus, the blood-red cornel; the branches of which are red in the winter, and the fruit filled with a blood-red juice. This is probably the same shrub as the male cornel, mentioned further on by Pliny.

2406The Genista tinctoria of Linnæus, or “dyers’” broom.

2407Or “service-tree,” the Sorbus domestica of Linnæus. It thrives just as well in a warm locality as a cold one.

2408The Betula alba of Linnæus. It was an object of terror not only in the hands of the Roman lictor, but in those of the pedagogue also, and is still to some extent. Hence it was formerly nicknamed “Arbor sapientiæ,” the “tree of wisdom.”

2409This is no longer done in France, but it is in Russia, where they extract from it an empyreumatic oil, which is used in preparing Russia leather, and which imparts to it its agreeable smell.

2410Boys, both of whose parents were surviving, used to carry before the bride a torch of white thorn. This thorn was, not improbably, the “Cratægus oxyacantha” of Linnæus, which bears a white flower. See B. xxiv. c. 66.

2411The Cytisus laburnum of Linnæus, also known as “false ebony,” still a native of the Alps.

2412But blackish in the centre; whence its name of false ebony.

2413Meaning the clusters of the flowers.

2414The Anthyllis barba Jovis of modern botanists. The leaves have upon them a silvery down, whence the name “argyrophylla,” given to it by Mænch.

2415But in c.30, he says that the poplar grows on hilly or mountainous declivities.

2416This tree has not been satisfactorily identified; but Fée is of opinion that it is probably a variety of the willow, the Salix vitellina of Linnæus. Sprengel thinks that it is the Salix capræa.

2417The Ligustrum vulgare of Linnæus. It has black fruit and a white flower, and is rendered famous by the lines of Virgil—Ecl. ii. 17:“O formose puer, nimium ne crede colori;Alba ligustra cadunt, vaccinia nigra leguntur.”It is evidently this juxtaposition that has prompted Pliny to mention the vaccinium in the succeeding passage. In B. xii. c.51, and B. xxiv. c. 45, Pliny seems inclined to confound this shrub with the Cyprus, the Lawsonia inermis of Linnæus, the Henna of the east, a totally different plant.

2417The Ligustrum vulgare of Linnæus. It has black fruit and a white flower, and is rendered famous by the lines of Virgil—Ecl. ii. 17:

“O formose puer, nimium ne crede colori;Alba ligustra cadunt, vaccinia nigra leguntur.”

“O formose puer, nimium ne crede colori;

Alba ligustra cadunt, vaccinia nigra leguntur.”

It is evidently this juxtaposition that has prompted Pliny to mention the vaccinium in the succeeding passage. In B. xii. c.51, and B. xxiv. c. 45, Pliny seems inclined to confound this shrub with the Cyprus, the Lawsonia inermis of Linnæus, the Henna of the east, a totally different plant.

2418Wooden tallies used by public officers in keeping their accounts. They were employed till the middle ages.

2419The Primus mahaleb, Desfontaines says; but Fée identifies it with the black heath-berry, or whortle-berry, still called “vaciet” in France. It does not, however, grow, as Pliny says, in watery places, but in woods and on shrubby hills.

2420See B. xxi. c. 97.

2421These observations, Fée says, are borrowed from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. iii. c. 4, and are founded on truth.

2422“Silvestres,” and “urbaniores.”

2423Urbanæ.

2424The Nerion oleander of Linnæus; the laurel-rose, or rose of St. Anthony of the French; it has some distant resemblance to the olive-tree, but its leaf is that of the laurel, and its flower very similar to that of the rose.

2425See B. xxiv. c. 61.

2426“Nerion” is the Greek name.

2427It has certain dangerous properties, which cause the herbivorous animals to avoid touching it. It acts strongly on the muscular system, and, as Fée remarks, used as an antidote to the stings of serpents, it is not improbable that its effect would be the worst of the two.

2428See B. xiii. c.37. The tamarisk of the moderns is not an evergreen, which has caused writers to doubt if it is identical with the tamariscus of the ancients, and to be disposed to look for it among the larger ericæ or heaths. The leaves of the larch fall every year; those of the other evergreens mostly every two or three years.

2429See B. xiii. c.40.

2430See B. xiii. c.40. This assertion of Pliny is erroneous, as these trees are in reality evergreens, though all trees of that class are liable to lose their leaves through certain maladies.

2431“Quercus.” The ilex or holm-oak is an evergreen.

2432Pliny is in error here. Varro, De Re Rust. B. i. c. 7, has made mention of this tree.

2433The hot climates possess a greater number of evergreens than the temperate regions, but not of the same species or genus. The vine invariably loses its leaves each year.

2434This last assertion, Fée says, is far from true, in relation to the coniferous trees.

2435See B. xv. c.7.

2436The Populus alba of Linnæus.

2437The Populus nigra of Linnæus.

2438The Populus tremula of Linnæus. This statement as to the leaves of the poplar is verified by modern experience.

2439This does not appear to be exactly correct as to the ivy. The leaves on the young suckers or the old and sterile branches are divided into three or five regular lobes, while those which grow on the branches destined to bear the blossoms are ovals or lanceolated ovals in shape.

2440It is not from the leaves, but from the fruit of the tree that this down falls; the seeds being enveloped with a cottony substance. This passage is hopelessly corrupt.

2441See B. xviii. c. 68, where he enlarges still further on this asserted peculiarity; he borrows his statement from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. i. c. 16.

2442These statements are quite conformable with the fact.

2443This statement is quite true, so far as the fact that the leaves have not the same position in the day-time as during the night: the changes of position vary greatly, however, in the different kinds. It is generally thought that an organic irritability is the cause of this phenomenon.

2444This seems to be the meaning of “In aliis gentium lana est.” He alludes, probably, to cotton or silk: see B. vi. c. 20. Thunberg tells us that at Roodesand, near the Cape of Good Hope, there grows so thick a down on the Buplevrum giganteum of Lamarck, that it is employed to imitate a sort of white velvet, and is used for bonnets, gloves, stockings, &c.

2445B. xiii. c.7.

2446“Genere ilicum.” It is not improbable that he here refers to the variety of the holm-oak which he has previously called “aquifolia,” apparently confounding it with the holly. See c.8of this Book.

2447See B. xiii. c.37.

2448This must be understood of the young leaf of the alder, which has a sort of thick gummy varnish on it.

2449B. xiii. c.7.

2450B. xv. c.15. Pliny is not correct here; the leaf of the pear is oval or lanceolated, while that of the apple is oval and somewhat angular, though not exactly “mucronata,” or sharply pointed.

2451Not exactly “divided,” but strongly lobed.

2452If this is the case, the pitch-tree can hardly be identical with the false fir, the Abies excelsa of Decandolles. See c.18of this Book, and the Note.

2453This passage would be apt to mislead, did we not know that the leaves of the coniferous trees here mentioned are not prickly, in the same sense as those of the holly, which are armed with very formidable weapons.

2454More particularly in the Populus tremula, the “quivering” poplar.

2455Crepitantia.

2456See B. xv. c.15. Not a species, but an accidental monstrosity.

2457See B. xv. c.37, where he speaks of the Hexastich myrtle.

2458The leaves of the elm and the tree supposed to be identical with the cytisus of the ancients have no characteristics in common. See B. xiii. c.47, and the Notes.

2459De Re Rust. cc. 5, 30, 45.

2460Very inappropriate food for cattle, it would appear: the fig leaf being charged with a corrosive milky juice; the leaf of the holm oak, hard and leathery; and that of the ivy, bitter and nauseous in the highest degree.

2461Eighth of February.

2462See B. viii. c. 67.

2463Catlitio.

2464He alludes to the period of the rising of the sap; an entirely distinct process from germination.

2465This statement, as also that relative to the holm oak, and other trees previously mentioned, is quite incorrect. The blossoms of the fig-tree are very much concealed, however, from view in the involucre of the clinanthium.

2466This is not the fact, though the blossom of the juniper is of humble character, and not easily seen. Theophrastus, B. iii. c. 6, only says that it is a matter of doubt, what Pliny so positively affirms.

2467This is the fact; the male tree is sterile, but it fecundates the female.

2468These remarks, borrowed from Theophrastus, are generally consistent with our experience.

2469Fée remarks that Pliny here copies from Theophrastus, a writer of Greece, without making allowance for the difference of localities. Theophrastus, however, gives the laurel an earlier period for budding than Pliny does.

2470The Rhamnus paliurus of Linnæus.

2471This is entirely fanciful: though it is the case that in some trees, the ligneous ones, namely, there are two germinations in the year, one at the beginning of spring, which acts more particularly on the branches, and the other at the end of summer, which acts more upon the parts nearer the roots.

2472See B. xviii. c. 57.

2473There is no such thing as a third budding.

2474As already stated, there are never more than two germinations.

2475This rupture of the epidermis, caused by the formation beneath of new ligneous and conical layers, takes place not solely, as Pliny and Theophrastus state, at the time of germination, but slowly and continuously.

2476On the contrary, they are irregular both in their commencement and their duration.

2477This is not the case; each bud is independent of the one that has preceded it. A sucker, however, newly developed may give birth to buds not at the extremity, but throughout the whole length of it.

2478See B. xviii. c. 67. What Pliny says here is in general true, though its germination does not take place with such rapidity as he states.

2479A mere fable, of course.

2480In the last Chapter.

2481In Paris, Fée says, the almond does not blossom till March. If the tree should blossom too soon, it is often at the expense of the fruit.

2482Probably the apricot. See B. xv. c.12.

2483See B. xv. c.11.

2484See B. xxiv. c. 8.

2485This, of course, is not the fact. As to the succeeding statements, they are borrowed mostly from Theophrastus, and are in general correct.

2486The rising of the sap.

2487The Pleiades. See B. xviii. cc. 59, 60.

2488It was supposed in astrology that the stars exercised an effect equally upon animal and vegetable life.

248925th of July.

2490See B. xviii. c. 68.

2491The Cornus mas of botanists; probably the Frutex sanguineus mentioned in c.30. See also B. xv. c.31.

2492Probably the Lonicera Alpigena of Linnæus; the fruit of which resembles a cherry, but is of a sour flavour, and produces vomiting.

2493The wood is so durable, that a tree of this kind in the forest of Montmorency is said to be a thousand years old.

2494See B. xviii. cc. 59, 60.

2495See c.6of this Book.

2496See B. xii. c.7.

2497This supposed marvel merely arises from the fact that the fruit has a strong ligneous stalk, which almost precludes the possibility of its dropping off. This is the case, too, not only with the pine, but with numerous other trees as well.

2498“Dried” nuts.

2499See B. xxiv. c. 41.

2500But in B. xxiv. c. 32, he speaks of the fruit of the black poplar as an antidote for epilepsy. In fact, he is quite in error in denying a seed to any of these trees.

2501See c.29of this Book.

2502The Rhamnus alaternus of Linnæus, the Phylica elatior of C. Bauhin. In reality, it bears a small black berry, of purgative qualities.

2503“Infelices,” “unhappy” rather.

2504Daughter of Sithon, king of Thrace, who hanged herself on account of the supposed inconstancy of her lover, Demophöon. See Ovid, Heroid. 2.

2505This must not be taken to the letter; indeed, Fée thinks that the proper meaning is:—“Young trees do not produce fruit till they have arrived at a certain state of maturity.” Trees mostly continue on the increase till they die.

2506See B. xvii. c.2. The assertion here made has not been confirmed by experience.

2507“Frugiperda:” in the Greek,ὠλεσίκαρπον. See Homer. Od. x. l. 510. It has been suggested, Pliny says, that the willow seed had this epithet from its effect in causing abortion; but he does not seem to share the opinion.

2508This cannot be a willow, Fée remarks; indeed, Theophrastus, B. iii. c. 5, speaks of a black poplar as growing there.

2509See B. xv. c.13. It is not impossible that Pliny may have mistaken here the Persea, or Balanites Ægyptiaca, for the Persica, or peach. See p.296.

2510Fée remarks, that this expression is remarkable as giving a just notion of the relative functions of the male and female in plants. He says that one might almost be tempted to believe that they suspected something of the nature and functions of the pistils and stamens.

2511This statement, which is drawn from Theophrastus, is rather fanciful than rigorously true.

2512B. xiii. c.7.

2513Or “forerunner.” The Spaniards call a similar fig “brevas,” the “ready ripener.”

2514See B. xv. c.19.

2515See B. xv. c.21.

2516This does not happen in the northern climates; though sometimes it is the case that a fruit-tree blossoms again towards the end of summer, and if the autumn is fine and prolonged, these late fruits will ripen. Such a phenomenon, however, is of very rare occurrence.

2517See B. xviii. c. 74.

2518“Insanæ.” There are some varieties of the vine which blossom more than once, and bear green grapes and fully ripe ones at the same moment.

2519De Re Rust. c. 7.

2520The suggested reading, “apud matrem magnam,” seems preferable to “apud mare,” and receives support from what is said relative to Smyrna in B. xiv. c.6.

2521See B. v. c. 3.

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