Chap. 48.] THE TREES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. 209 



there should happen to be no rain, it ought to be watered 

 when sown : when the plants are about a cubit in height, 

 they are replanted in trenches a foot in depth. It is trans- 

 planted at the equinoxes, while the shrub is yet tender, and in 

 three years it will arrive at maturity. It is cut at the vernal 

 equinox, when the flower is just going off ; a child or an old 

 woman is able to do this, and their labour may be had at a 

 trifling rate. It is of a white appearance, and if one would 

 wish to express briefly what it looks like, it is a trifoliate d 

 shrub, 32 with small, narrow leaves. It is always given to 

 animals at intervals of a couple of days, and in winter, when it is 

 dry, before being given to them, it is first moistened with water. 

 Ten pounds of cytisus will suffice for a horse, and for smaller 

 animals in proportion : if I may here mention it by the way, 

 it is found very profitable to sow garlic and onions between 

 the rows of cytisus. 



This shrub has been found in the Isle of Cythnus, from 

 whence it has been transplanted to all the Cyclades, and more 

 recently to the cities of Greece, a fact which has greatly in- 

 creased the supply of cheese : considering which, I am much 

 surprised that it is so rarely used in Italy. This shrub is proof, 

 too, against all injuries from heat, from cold, from hail, and 

 from snow : and, as Hyginus adds, against the depredations of 

 the enemy even, the wood 33 produced being of no value what- 

 ever. 



CHAP. 48. (25.) THE TREES AND SHRTJBS OE THE MEDITER- 

 RANEAN. THE PHTCOS, PRASON, OR ZOSTER. 



Shrubs and trees grow in the sea 34 as well ; those of our 

 sea 35 are of inferior size, while, on the other hand, the Red Sea 

 and all the Eastern Ocean are filled with dense forests. No 

 other language has any name for the shrub wjiich is known to 

 the Greeks as the "phycos," 36 since by the word "alga" 37 a 



32 a Frutex." When speaking of it as a shrub, he seems to be confound- 

 ing the tree with the plant. 



33 Evidently in allusion to the tree. 



34 He alludes to various kinds of fucus or sea-weed, which grows to a 

 much larger size in the Eastern seas. 



35 The Mediterranean.- 



36 Whence the word " fucus " of the naturalists. 



37 Fee suggests that this may be the Laminaria saccharina of Linnaeus, 

 being one of the " ulvse " often thrown up on the coasts of Europe. 



vol. in. p 



