6 On the Flower-luds of Trees 
marked or spotted, were the mania of that period, and even the 
grave Cicero yielded to the folly. 
Pliny’s description of the lesser Maple (the ancient Bruscum) 
is well worth citing in the original; and immediately brought, to 
my mind the different figures of the roots of various trees when 
cut down at the proper season; for this does not last above a 
fortnight or three weeks at most, in any free ; but if taken within 
that time, most roots form a very beautiful picture which explains 
many passages in both authors. The trees which have this pro- 
perty are the Yew, theCitron, and the Maple, not only the Italian 
but the French one. Pliny’s description is: ‘* Acer, operum ele- 
gantid et subtilitate Citro secundum, Gallicum in Transpadana 
Italia transque Alpes nascens. Alterum genus, crispo macularum 
discursu, qui,ciim excellentior fuit, asimilitudine caude pavonum 
nomen accepit.” There are several kinds, especially the white, 
which is wonderfully beautiful. This is called the French Maple, 
growing in that part of Italy that is on the other side of the Po, 
beyond the Alps. The other has a curled appearance so curious 
(fig. 5), that from a near resemblance it was usually called the 
Peacock’s 'Tail. Lib. xvi. c. 16. It is very curious that I should 
have some of this curled figured wood so exactly described by Pliny, 
in many foreign woods (fig. 7) as well as the Mapies, and in the 
Bird’s Eye American Maple, which of course they could not then 
know, that directly showed me what Pliny meant. He goes on to 
comment on those of Istria, and those trees growing on the moun- 
tains, and esteemed the best, and to sing forth the praises of the 
Bruscum knots. But the Molluscum was counted by the Romans 
as the most precious. 1 have among my Indian woods many spe- 
cimens admirably marked; I have also one which rises up in 
stripes, and bears the appearance of a Fir within (fig. 6). They 
are not large enough to make any thing but the ladies’ sets of 
tables in fashion a few years past, but served to stand by the 
couches of the Romans when they dined, or after dinner ; which 
gives a higher idea of their luxurious customs than any fact I have 
yet read of them. But I hope I shall never live to see that extra- 
vagance imitated in this country, which gave rise to the curious 
Roman saying coimmon among the gentlemen of Rome, when 
they exclaimed that the ladies had * turned the tables on them.” 
As when they reproached the ladies with the expense of their 
jewels and ornaments, the ladies reminded them of the tables 
that had often cost from six to ten thousand sesterces; even the 
grave Cicero gave, I think, and boasts of giving, eight thousand 
for a set, and they must have been small. 
The Bruscum is more intricately crisped and curled than 
the Molluscum (fig. 8); but the planks are larger and the 
pattern is fuller; “ and had we,” says Cicero, ‘ trees to make 
or 
