Chap. 30.] NATURES OF VARIOUS TREES. 371 



the yoke-elm. 15 On the Apennines there is also found a shrub 

 known as the "cotinus," 16 famous for imparting to cloth a 

 purple colour like that of the murex. The fir" the robur, the 

 chesnut, the lime, the holm-oak, and the cornel will grow 

 equally well on mountain or in valley; while the maple, 17 the 

 ash, the service, the linden, and the cherry, more particularly 

 prefer a watery spot on the slope of a hilly declivity. It is 

 not often that we see the plum, the pomegranate, the olive, 

 the walnut, the mulberry, or the elder, growing on an elevated 

 site : the cornel, too, the hazel, the quercus, the wild ash, the 

 maple, the ash, the beech, and the yoke-elm, descend to the 

 plains; wdiile the elm, the apple, the pear, the laurel, the 

 myrtle, the blood-red 18 shrub, the holm-oak, and the brooms 19 

 that are employed in dyeing cloths, all of them aspire to a 

 more elevated locality. 



The sorb, 20 and even still more the birch, 21 are fond of a 

 cold site ; this last is a native of Gaul, of singular whiteness 

 and slender shape, and rendered terrible as forming the fasces 

 of the magistracy. Prom its flexibility it is employed also in 

 making circlets and the ribs of panniers. In Gaul, 22 too, they 

 extract a bitumen from it by boiling. To a cold site, also, 

 belongs the thorn, which affords the most auspicious torches 23 



15 On the contrary, the yoke-elm, or horn-beam, grows almost exclusively 

 on the plains ; and the same with tiie cornel and the poplar. 



16 The Rhus cotinus of Linnaeus, the fustic. See B. xiii. c. 41. This, 

 however, imparts a yellow colour, while Pliny speaks of a purple. It has 

 heen asserted, however, that the roots of it produce a fine red. There is 

 no tree in Europe that produces a purple for dyeing. 



17 The maple, the ash, and the service-tree, are as often found in the 

 plains as on the hills. 



18 See c. 43 f and B. xxiv. c. 43. The Cornus sanguinea of Linnaeus, 

 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. 



19 The Genista tinctoria of Linnseus, or "dyers'" broom. 



20 Or "service-tree," the Sorbus domestica of Linnaeus. It thrives just 

 as well in a warm locality as a cold one. 



21 The Betula alba of Linnaeus. 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 

 sapientiae," the " tree of wisdom." 



22 This is no longer done in France, but it is in Russia, where they ex- 

 tract from it an empyreumatic oil, which is used in preparing Russia leather, 

 and which imparts to it its agreeahle smell. 



23 Beys, both of whose parents were surviving, used to carry before the 



B B 2 



