142 



THK CONIFEROUS PLANTS OF ITALY. 



consecrated to the infernal regions. Silius Italicus,* in his de- 

 scription of the lower world, places a large Yew-tree there ; and 

 Claudian describes the Furies as carrying yew -torches. "j" It was 

 generally believed in ancient times that the yew was poisonous. 

 Plinyl says that the male tree is noxious, that its berries, es- 

 pecially in Spain, are poisonous ; and even that wine kept in 

 casks, made of this wood in Gaul, can cause death ; and that in 

 Arcadia the poison is so strong, that any one who eats or sleeps 

 under the shadow of this tree is killed. Columella calls yew- 

 trees Taxos nocentes ;% Claudian pestifei'as ;\\ both Virgil and 

 Columella say that bees shun it. IF The frequent mention of the 

 Yew by the ancients leads us to suppose that in their time, as 

 well as in our own, it grew both on the Apennines and on the 

 Alps. The art of clipping trees and of giving them all sorts of 

 shapes to ornament gardens (opus topiarium) was, as we have 

 already stated, known to the Romans ; although this was done 

 with the Cypress, the Silver Fir, and the Box, it was not prac- 

 tised on the Yew, probably because the latter tree required a 

 colder climate than the plains afforded. 



There is no reason for supposing that the species of Conifers 

 indigenous in Italy at the present time differ from those of former 

 ages. The most common and the most easily distinguished are 

 expressly mentioned by the ancient authors, and are, for the most 

 part, described with sufficient accuracy to enable us to determine 

 what they really were. Those that are not mentioned may, 

 from tlie vague ideas of tliose times, be considered as having 

 been united to the others, or as having altogether escaped 

 observation. 



Although Italy contains 20 species of Conifers (excluding the 

 Cypress), and Europe north of the Alps has but G, the number 

 of individual trees is by no means apportioned in the same way. 

 The Conifers in the north of Europe form immense forests, and 

 consequently play an important part in the physiognomy of 

 nature. In Italy, on the contrary, with the exception of the 

 Alps, where they form by their quantity a region at the mean 

 height, these trees constitute but small scattered woods, whicti 



* Silius Italicus, ed. Rnperti, xiii. 595, 596. 



t Claudian, Rapt. Pros. edit. Gesneri, 3, 38G. 



X Flinij, xvi. 20 — " Mas noxio fructu. Letale quippe baccis, in His- 

 pania prsecipue venerium inest. Vasa etiam viatoria ex ea vinis in Gal- 

 lia facta, mortifera fuisse compertum est et esse in Arcadia tain prsesen- 

 tis veneni, ut qui obdormiant sub ea, cibumque capiant moriautur." 



§ Columella, ix. 4, .3. 



II liapt. Pros. 3, 386. 



^ Columella, 1. c. Vircjil, Eel. ix. 30. 



