398 pltnt's natural HISTORY. [Book XVI. 



useless, a berry that causes a wry* 7 face when tasted, and a leaf 

 that is bitter : it also gives out a disagreeable pungent smell, 

 and its shade is far from agreeable. The wood that it furnishes 

 is but scanty, so much so indeed, that it may be almost regarded 

 as little more than a shrub. This tree is sacred to Pluto 

 and hence it is used as a sign of mourning 89 placed at the 

 entrance of a house : the female 90 tree is for a long time barren. 

 The pyramidal appearance that it presents has caused it not to 

 be rejected, but for a long time it was only used for marking 

 the intervals between rows of pines : at the present day, how- 

 ever, it is clipped and trained to form hedge-rows, or else is 

 thinned and lengthened out in the various designs 91 employed in 

 ornamental gardening, and which represent scenes of hunting 

 fleets, and various other objects: these it covers with a thin 

 small leaf, which is always green. * ml -: fl » 



There are two varieties of the cypress; the one 9 - tapering 

 and pyramidal, and which is known as the female ; w^ile the 

 male tree 93 throws its branches straight out from the body, and 

 is often pruned and employed as a rest for the vine Both 

 the male and the female are permitted to throw out their 

 branches, which are cut and employed for poles and props, 

 being worth, after thirteen years' growth, a denarius a-piece. 

 Iu respect of income, a plantation of cypress w remarkably 

 profitable, so much so, indeed, that it ™\*^^*2" 

 hat a cypress-wood is a dowry for a daughter. 94 The native 

 country of this tree is the island of Crete, although Cato 9 * 

 calls it Tarentine, Tarentum being the first place, I. suppose, 

 in which it was naturalized : in the island of ^nana, 96 also, 



87 Tristis tentantum sensu torquebit amaror.— Virg. Georg. ii. 247. 

 ?3 This statement is exaggerated. , Proprp flTH i 



89 It is still to be seen very frequently in the cemeteries of Greece and 



C ° 9 n o S The Cypress is in reality monoecious, the structure of the same plant 

 heino- "both male and female. _ ' v.^ 



S S This was formerly done with the cypress, m England, to a cons.der- 



°raJ3E?tetaSWjBta; the variety B of the C. sem- 



P Tae pS"£»e given to this tree in the island of Crete, is the 

 « daughter's dowry." ... 



ro fie Re Bust. c. 151. 96 B. uu c. 12. 



