214 THE CLASSICAL PLANTS OF SICILY. 
sentation of a Palm-Tree. It was formerly very abundant 
in Sicily, and is said to have been destroyed by the barbarian 
nations who laid waste the island, during the middle ages. 
It is this Tree, the American Aloe, and the Indian Fig, 
which give to the Sicilian landscapes, a singularly beautiful, 
almost a tropical appearance. 
148. Chamerops humilis.—D warf Fan-Palm, or Ground- 
Palm. Bot. Mag. vol. xlvii. t. 2152. 
Dioscorides mentions three sorts of Palm, $o/v£; this must 
be one of the dwarf or Ground Palms, 2% zw» yawoignrov Domina, 
which are not described, lib. i. cap. 150. It is doubtless the 
Xopousegic, Theoph. lib. ii. cap. 8, the leaves of which are 
woven together for making baskets and mats; it is abundant 
in Crete, and still more so in Sicily. Að ze a2éxovcor i£ &uroð 
vág re omugidas xui voUg Doguoug Torro! Oe xcu ev rH Kgürm yivovra, xai 
ert wadrov i Xm Pliny likewise says, ** Chamseropes—— 
copiosee in Creta sed magis in Sicilia.” Lib. xiii. cap. 4. 
It is the Palma agrestis of Cicero, * cujus erat in his locis" 
(propé Pachynum) “sicut in magna parte Sicilize, multitudo." 
Confer in Verrem Jib. v. cap. 33. and 38, where it appears 
that the root was occasionally eaten. The Ground Palm, 
called in the Sicilian dialect Palmetta, Giummara, and Curina, 
covers the wild uncultivated land and hills, as the Furze does 
with us, and chiefly in the South of the island. Hence 
Virgil gave the appropriate epithet Palmosa to the ancient 
Selinus. A kind of light, but strong hat is made by neatly 
plaiting the leaves together; and the plant is used for brooms, 
seats for chairs, thatch for poor houses, and many other pur- 
poses. A species of wasp (Vespa Gallica) fixes its small 
paper-like nest to the folded fan-shaped leaves. In like 
manner, in India the Palm Swift (Cypselus Palmarum) 
builds its nest on the leaves of the larger Palms. 
GRAMINE. 
149. Panicum miliaceum.— Common Millet. 
Kéyxgos, Diosc. lib. ii. cap. 119, and Theoph. lib. viii. cap. 3. 
Also in modern Greek z£yy;. Sibth. ^ Hesiod mentions the 
