CHAP. II. BRITISH ISLANDS. 23 
service is to be found in a wild state in Britain, viz., Wyre Forest 
in Worcestershire, the remains of a Roman villa were some 
years ago discovered (see Arch. Mag., ii. p. 94.). It is not im- 
probable that the tree referred to may be a descendant from a 
service tree planted in the orchard belonging to the adjoining 
Roman villa. The chestnut belongs to Sardis in Asia Minor ; 
and it was brought thence to Tarentum and Naples, where 
it was cultivated with great success in the reign of Vespasian. 
That the chestnut was in Britain as early as the 12th century is 
placed beyond dispute by Giraldus Cambrensis, who, in speak- 
ing of the trees of Britain which Ireland wants, mentions the 
chestnut and the beech. Daines Barrington conjectures that 
the chestnut was probably brought into England from Spain; 
and Dr. Ducarel, who had a dispute with Barrington on 
the subject (see Phil. Trans., lix. and Ixi.), endeavours to_ 
prove that it is a native. Mr. Whitaker thinks, and, in our 
opinion, with great reason, that the tree was brought into Britain 
by the Romans. The medlar, according to Pliny, was brought 
into Italy from Greece, at what period is uncertain; as is also 
when it was introduced into Britain. The rose was brought 
from Italy by the Romans, the best being those of Przenestina 
and Campania. The rosemary and the thyme are also supposed 
to have been introduced by the Romans. ‘The thyme, in the 
days of Vespasian, Pliny observes (xxi. 10.), so greatly over- 
spread the plains in the province of Narbonne, that many 
thousands of cattle were brought every year from the distant 
parts of the country to fatten upon it. 
In a paper on the subject of indigenous trees, in the Archeologia, 
by Daines Barrington, he lays down a test by which it may be 
known what trees ought to be considered as truly indigenous : 
that they grow in large masses, and spread over a considerable 
breadth of surface; that such masses never end abruptly, ex- 
cept where there is a sudden change in the soil or the sub- 
stratum; and, that the trees or shrubs ripen their seeds kindly, 
and that when these seeds are dropped, they spring up freely. 
Applying these tests to what are commonly considered native 
trees, he rejects positively the sweet chestnut, the lime, the 
English elm; and the box. As doubtful, he reckons the Acer 
Pseddo-Platanus, and the white poplar (Populus alba), and even 
the yew, which, he says, is seldom found but in churchyards or 
in artificial plantations. He also doubts the spindle tree and 
the privet. A few lime trees, he thinks, such as those in Moor 
Park in Hertfordshire, and on the river Neath in Glamorgan- 
shire, have been introduced by the alien abbots and priors, when 
they came to visit their religious houses; but the tree was not 
generally planted till after the time of Le Notre, in the reign of 
Charles I., who introduced it extensively in avenues, as was then 
