Chap. 33] THE RHODODENDRON. 373 



case also with the vaccinium, 32 grown in Italy for drugging our 

 slaves, 33 and in Gaul for the purpose of dyeing the garments of 

 slaves a purple colour. All those trees 34 which are common 

 to the mountains and the plains, grow to a larger size, and are 

 of more comely appearance when grown on the plains, while 

 those found on the mountains have a better wood and more 

 finely veined, with the exception of the apple and the pear. 



CHAP. 32. (19.) DIVISION OF TREES INTO VARIOUS SPECIES. 



In addition to these particulars, some of the trees lose their 

 leaves, while others, again, are evergreens. Before, however, 

 we treat of this distinction, it will be necessary first to touch 

 upon another. There are some trees that are altogether of a 

 wild nature, while there are others, again, that are more 

 civilized, such being the names 35 by which man has thought 

 fit to distinguish the trees. Indeed, these last, which by t'heir 

 fruits or some other beneficial property, or else by the shade 

 which they afford, show themselves the benefactors of man, 

 are not inappropriately called "civilized" 36 trees. 



CHAP. 33. (20.) TREES WHICH DO NOT LOSE THEIR FOLIAGE. 



THE RHODODENDRON. TREES WHICH DO NOT LOSE THE WHOLE 

 OF THEIR FOLIAGE. PLACES IN WHICH THERE ARE NO TREES. 



Belonging to this last class, there are the following trees 

 which do not lose their leaves : the olive, the laurel, the 

 palm, the myrtle, the cypress, the pine, the ivy, the rhodo- 

 dendron, 37 and, although it may be rather called a herb than a 

 tree, the savin. 38 The rhododendron, as its name indicates, 

 comes from Greece. By some it is known as the nerium, 39 

 and by others as the rhododaphne. It is an evergreen, bear- 



32 The Primus mahaleb, Desfcmtaines says ; but Fee ^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. " See B. xxi. c 97. 



34 These observations, Fee says, are borrowed from Theophrastus, Hist. 

 Plant. B. hi. c. 4, and are founded on truth. 



35 " Silvestres," and " urbaniores." 36 Urban ae. 



37 The Nerion oleander of Linnaeus ; the laurel-rose, or rose of St. .An- 

 thony 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 



triP TOS6 



38 See b. xxiv. c. 61. so " Nerion" is the Greek name. 



