130 THE CONIFEROUS PLANTS OF ITALY. 



of Pines, Firs, and Larches is well known ; but all the other 

 species, even those found most to the north, are different from 

 those of Europe. 



History of the Conifers of Italy. 



Pinus Pinea was no doubt as common in the time of the 

 Eomans as at present ; it was principally cultivated, and was 

 called simply Piniis. 



1. Pliny says that it is branching at its top, whilst Pinaster 

 is so from the middle of its trunk upwards.* Ovid describes this 

 tree as having erect foliage, or a bristling head.j 



2. Pliny notices, as a remarkable circumstance, that this tree 

 bears at the same time fruit about to ripen, others which will 

 ripen the next year, and others, again, which will ripen the third 

 year;| this is a property possessed by the Pine in question, but 

 not by the other Italian species of the same genus. 



3. The same author says it has a very large fruit, and it is in 

 fact that whicli, among the Italian species, bears the largest 

 cones. He says that the nuts are found in cavities, and are 

 covered with a layer of rust, by which they are enabled to lie 

 softly ; he states, moreover, that the seeds are eatable, which 

 is only true of this species and of Pinus Cemhra of the A]ps.§ 

 Apiciusalso talks of Pine Nuts {nuclei pinei) ; he mentions them 

 as an ingredient in a very complicated dish;|| it is occasionally 

 employed for culinary purposes at the present time. Pliny men- 

 tions a variety with a thin shell,T[ which he calls the nut of 

 Tarentum,^ — a variety still known and cultivated in the kingdom 

 of Naples ; he talks of Pine nuts being preserved with honey 

 (vide note, ante) ; they are at present kept in their cones. 



4. The Pine was then as now cultivated in gardens, and 

 planted near country houses, as we learn from the instructions 

 given by Palladius, Varro, Columella, and Cato as to the time 

 of planting and gathering the Pine nuts.** Virgtl calls the Pine 



* Plin. Hist. A'at. xvi. 17 — " Pinaster nihil aliud est quam Pinus syl- 

 vestris, mira altitudine, et a medio ramosa, sicut Pinus in vertice." 



f Ovid, Metam. x. Iu3 — " Succincta comas, hirsutaque vertice Pinus." 



\ Plinij, xvi. 44 — "In maximk tamen admiratione Pinus est; habet 

 fructum maturescentem ; habet proximo anno ad maturitatem venturum, ac 

 deinde tertio." 



§ Pliny, XV. 9 — " Grandissimus (fructus) pineis nucibus — intus exiles 

 nucleos lacunatis includit toris, vestitos alia ferruginis tunica ; mira natura; 

 cura moUiter semina coUocandi. In melle decoctos (nucleos) Tauriui aqui- 

 celos vocant." 



II Apicius, "De Opsoniis etCondimentis,'' i. 33. 



^ Pliny, XV. 9—" Harum genus alterum Tarentinse, digitis fragili puta- 

 mine." 



** Palladius, Novb. vii. 9-12 ; Feb. xxv. 33 ; Mart. x. 37. Varro, i. 45. 

 Columella, v, 10, 14. Cato, xxviii. (Scriptores Kei RiisticEC, ed. Schneideri.) 



