THE CONIFEKOUS PLANTS OF ITALY. 137 



smelling than that of the Spruce Fir.* He adds that its trunk, 

 like tliat of the Silver, is very tall,t stouter and longer than 

 that of the Spruce Fir ; that its bark is more compact, its leaf 

 more hairy, more unctuous, denser, and more flexible ; whilst 

 the leaves of the Spruce Fir are more scattered, drier, thinner, 

 and more glossy. | Though this description is not perfectly cor- 

 rect in some of its details, still, taking it altogether, it is pretty 

 clear that the Larch is meant. It is an ei'ror on Pliny's part to 

 suppose that the Larch is always green, incombustible, and with- 

 out cones ; an error that is explained, if we admit that formerly, 

 as at present, the Larch only grew on the Alps.§ 



3. He says tliat from the Larch there exudes a honey-coloured 

 liquid which never hardens. This is most certainly the Venetian 

 turpentine.il 



4. Vitruvius affords us another very important proof, and that 

 is, that formerly, as at the present day, the Larch grew only on 

 the Alps. He says the Larch is only known to the inhabitants 

 of the municipia situated in the neighbourhood of the Po and 

 the coasts of the Adriatic. 1[ Then, like Pliny, he falls into the 

 error of supposing the wood of the Larch to be incombustible, 

 and gives as proof the fact, that when Caesar, in his wars among 

 the Alps, besieged the castle of Larignum, he wished to set fire 

 to a tower ; but, to his great surprise, he found that the tower, 

 though surrounded with burning wood, was not hurt. When 

 the besieged afterwards surrendered, and they were asked whence 

 they obtained the wood for their tower, they pointed out tlie trees 

 to Caesar, trees « hich were there in great abundance, and had 

 given the name to their stronghold. They send, says he, this 

 wood along tlie Po to Kavenna, Ancona, and other municipal 

 towns in these countries. Finally, he remarks that, if this wood 



* Pliny, -K.y\. 19 — "Materies prEestantioi- longe (picja), incorrupta vis, 

 mori contumax : rubeus prseterea et odore acrior." lb. xvi. 78 — " Cariem 

 vetustatemque tardissime sentiunt Larix, Robur," &c. lb. s. 79 — " Larix in 

 humore priecipua."' 



f Flint/, xvi. 76 — " Hse (Larix et Abies) omnium arborum altissimse ac 

 rectissimae.'" 



X Pliny, xvi. 19 — '• Sed Picea minus alta quam Larix, ilia crassior, levior- 

 que cortice, folio villosior, pinguior et densior, molliorque flexu. At picese 

 rariora siccioraque folia et tenuiora ac magis algeutia." 



§ Pliny, ibid. — "Omnia ea (coniferse) perpetuo virent — s. 33. Sylvestrium 

 generis folia non deciduimt — larici." lb. 19 — "Larix nee ardet nee car- 

 bonem facit, nee alio modo ignis vi consumitur quam lapides." lb. — "E 

 ramis generum horum paniculorum modo nucamenta squamatim compacta 

 dependent, praeterquam larici." 



II Pliny, xvi. 19 — "Plusculum huic erumpit liquoris, melleo colore, atque 

 lentiore nunquam durescentis." 



\ Vitruv. ii. 9 — " Larix vero qui non est notus nisi his miuiicipalibus qui 

 smit circa ripam flimiinis Padi et littora maris Adriatici." 



