392 PLINT's NATURAL HISTORY. 



[Book XVI. 



Some trees, again, throw out branches from the roots, the 

 elm for example ; while others are branchy at the top, the 

 pine for instance, and the lotus 55 or Grecian bean, the fruit of 

 which, though wild, resembles the cherry very closely, and is 

 called the lotus at Eome, on account of its sweetness. For 

 sheltering houses these trees are more particularly esteemed, 

 as they throw out their branches to a considerable distance,' 

 from a short trunk, thus affording a very extensive shade, and 

 very frequently encroaching upon the neighbouring mansions. 

 There is no tree, however, the shade afforded by which is less 

 long-lived than this, and when it loses its leaves in winter, 

 it affords no shelter from the sun. No tree has a more sightly 

 bark, or one which has greater attractions for the eye ; or 

 branches which are longer, stouter, or more numerous ;' in- 

 deed, one might almost look upon them as forming so many 

 trees. The bark 56 of it is used for dyeing skins, and the root 

 for colouring wool. 



The branches of the apple-tree have a peculiar conformation ; 

 knots are formed which resemble the muzzles 57 of wild beasts^ 

 several smaller ones being united to a larger. 



CHAP. 54. THE BRANCHES OF TREES. 



Some of the branches are barren, and do not germinate; this 

 takes place either from a natural deficiency of strength, or else 

 some injury received in consequence of having been cut, and 

 the cicatrix impeding the natural functions. The same that the 

 branch is in the trees that spread out, is the eye 58 in the vine 

 and the joint in the reed. All trees are naturally the thickest 

 in the parts that are nearest the ground. The fir, the larch, the 

 palm, the cypress, and the elm, and, indeed, every tree that 

 has but a single trunk, develope themselves in their remark- 

 able height. Among the branchy trees the cherry is some- 

 times 59 found to yield a beam forty cubits in length by two in 



55 The Celtis australis of Linnceus. Pliny is in error in calling- this tree 

 the ''Grecian bean." In B. xiii. c. 22, he erroneously calls the African 

 lotus by the name of " celtis," which only belongs to the lotus of Italy • 

 that of Africa being altogether different. ' 



56 The bark, which is astringent, is still used in preparing skins, and a 

 black colouring matter extracted from the root is employed in dyeing wool. 



57 Quite an accidental resemblance, if, indeed, it ever existed. 



58 " Oculus "—the bud on the trunk. 



59 This must be either a mistake or an exaggeration ; the cherry never 

 being a very large tree. 



