566 BURMA, ITS PEOPLE AND PRODUCTIOXS. 



The Tine is a plant whose origin, so far as its culture is concerned, dates from 

 prehistoric times, and is one of those plants which shows in a marked degree the 

 eflect of cultivation, which fact was clearly enunciated by Virgil in his charming 

 Second Gcorgic : 



" Sponte sua qua) se tollunt in luminis oras, 

 Infeeunda quidem, sed la3ta et fortia surgunt ; 

 Quippe solo natura subest. Tamen haec quoque si quis 

 Inserat, aut serobibus mandet mutata subactis, 

 Exuerint sylvestrem animum ; cultuque frequenti 

 In quascunque voces artes, baud tarda sequentur." 



Gcorgic II. line 47. 



This same contrast which exists between the cultivated and uncultivated vine 

 has been very happily seized by another Roman poet as a symbol of the advantages of 

 matrimony : 



" Ut vidua in nudo vitis qua; nascitur arvo 

 Kunquam se extollit, nunquam mitem educat uvam, 

 Sed tencrum prono deflcctens pectore corpus 

 Jam jam contingit summum radice flagellum, 

 Hanc nulli agricola;, nulli accoluere juvenci : 

 At si forte cadem est ulmo conjuncta marito, 

 Multi illam agricolaj, multi accoluere juvenci." 



Catullus, Carm. Ntq). line 49.' 



Leea, Linnaus. 



Ufamcns and petals united with the disk. Ocanj 3-G-celled, with a solitary 

 ovule in each cell. Erect shrubs or trees, without tendrils. 



X Leaces ample, simple or rnrchj o-foliolate. 



L. MACEOPHTLLA, Roxb. var. 13 frequent in the mixed forests, especially 



L. sinqilicifolia, Griff. the upper ones, of Pegu and Martaban. 



Kya-bet-gyi. 



Leaves simple, large, very glaucous and shortly puberulous beneath. Lobes of 

 the staminal tube entire. Shrubby. 



var. a ffeiiiiitin. Leaves larger and somewhat lobed, and puberulous beneath, 

 var. j3 oxyphylla. Leaves ovate, acuminate, less glaucous beneath, glabrous. 



L. LATiFOLiA, Wall. Prome. 



Leaves simple and pinnatcly 3-foliolate, hardly glaneescent, but minutely 

 imberulous beneath. Lobes of the staminal tube notched. Shrubby. 



X X Leaves from simply pinnate to deeomjiotmd . 

 ° All parts [except the inforescenee in a few species) glahrous. 

 I Inforescenee with persistent and consiyictious bracts and hractlets. 

 f f Bracts and hractlets minute, usually already dro^yped before the flower-buds are 

 piroperly developed. 



So lips the solitary vine, prone in a naked field, 



Unfit to lift itself on hif;h, or clustering grapes to yield. 



By its own weight bowed down to earth ; no comely youth or maid, 



No husbandman, delights to lie outstretched beneath its shade. 



But once, with some tall husband elm, effect its union gay ; 



Aud soon beneath its fruitful boughs will whispering lovers stray. 



