50 FAMILIAR TREES 



and hence the term " bachelor " became extended to 

 unmarried men in general. 



The Laurel was also believed to be a protection 

 against lightning; and accordingly, the Emperor 

 Tiberius, when it thundered, wore a Laurel- wreath 

 made from the tree at the imperial villa on the 

 Flaminian Way, which sprang from a shoot said to 

 have been miraculously sent from heaven to Livia 

 Drusilla. Used as an emblem of truth, like the Olive, 

 both trees were equally forbidden to be put to any 

 profane uses ; but the crackling of burning Laurel- 

 leaves was also employed as a means of divination. 



Dr. Lindley argued that the true Delphic Laurel 

 was Rus'cus racemo'sus, sometimes called the 

 " Alexandrian Laurel," a low-growing, berry-bearing 

 shrub, with glossy green leaf-like branches, akin to 

 our English Butcher's-broom ; but it is more gener- 

 ally considered that the Daphne of the Greeks was 

 our Bay-tree (Lau'rus no'bilis L.), fine trees of 

 which now adorn the banks of the Peneus. This, 

 no doubt, was Chaucer's 



" Fresh grene lamer tree, 

 That gave so passing a delicious smelle," 



and was the only Laurel generally known in Europe 

 in Shakespeare's time. Its popular name has now, 

 however, been completely transferred to a totally 

 different and unrelated plant, the " Cherry Bay " or 

 " Cherry Laurel " (Prunus Laurocerasus L.). There 

 is little in common between the two plants beyond 

 the evergreen character of their leaves. 



The Cherry Laurel was referred by Linnaeus to 

 the genus Prunus, and is retained in that position 



