136 



THE COJSIFEKOUS PLANTS OF ITALY. 



is made of the pitch of Brutium obtained from this mountain. 

 Dionysius names three sorts of Conifers : fXarr}^ which he says 

 darts upwards towards the sky, tievkj] Truipa, and ttitvc. If we 

 turn to Brocchi's observations on tlie Conifers found on the same 

 mountain, we also find three species mentioned, viz. the Silver, 

 or eXuTii ; the Laricio, apparently the ttevkj] TruLpa, or fat Pine 

 {■KEVKt} is used for the true Pines generally : Pinea, for example, 

 is called ttevkt]) ; and lastly, P. hrutia, which will be the irirvc. 

 The latter also occurs in Theophrastus ; it is not quite certain 

 to which species it applies ; but, at any rate, it is a Pine and not 

 a Fir, whence it follows that at this period there was probably 

 but one species, viz. the Silver Fir, on the mountains of Ca- 

 labria, 



When speaking of Pine nuts, and of the variety with a brittle 

 shell, Pliny adds that there is a third species, which he calls 

 nuces sajypince. They are obtained from Picea sativa, and have, 

 instead of a hard shell, a skin which is so soft that it can be 

 eaten with the kernel.* There must be some error here, for the 

 kernels of the Spruce Fir are not eatable. One might think that 

 Pliny was acquainted with the nuts of Pinus Cemhra, a tree that 

 grows in the same geographical conditions as the Spruce Fir, and 

 that he supposed the nuces sapjnncE-\ to come from this tree ; but 

 the nuts of P. Cemhra are hard like those of P. Pinea, and he 

 says that the nuces sapjnnce come from a cultivated Pinea. 



Lastly, Pliny mentions a trunk of a Fir remarkable for its 

 size, which he saw on board a ship that brought an obelisk from 

 Egypt, by the order of Caligula.j 



Let us now go to the Larch. I look upon the Larix of the 

 Romans as identical with our Larch, although some doubts have 

 arisen on this point. I can, I think, also show that this tree was 

 found nowhere in Italy but on the Alps. 



1 . This tree is at present called Larice on the Italian Alps. 



2. Pliny says that its wood is much better than that of the 

 Spruce Fir ; that it is incorruptible, nearly indestructible, and 

 remains quite sound under water ; that it is redder and stronger- 



* riinij, XV. 9 — " Tertium (genus) Sappinise e Picea sativa, nucleoruin cute 

 verius qukin putamine, adeo molli ut siiiiul mandetur." 



t 111 another place it is said on the contrary that Supinus is the trunk of 

 Abies, barked and plunged in water, lb. xvi. 76 — " Abietis quae pars a 

 terra fuit enodis est ; hsec qua diximus ratione, fluviata decorticata, atque 

 ita Sapinus vocatur." Compare lib. xvi. 23. 



X Pliii;/, xvi. 76 — " Abies admirationis pracipuae visa est in navi, qua? ex 

 Egypto Caji principis jussu obeliscum in V^aticano circo statutum quatuorque 

 truucos lapidis ejusdem ad sustinendum eum aduxit." 



