BOOK XVI. XXX. 73-xxxi. 76 



and hornbeam ; on the Apennines there is also a 

 shrub called the cotinus," famous for supplying a 

 dye for hnen cloth that resembles purple. The 

 fir, hard-oak, chestnuts, hme, holm-oak and cornel 

 Hke mountains and valleys. The maple, ash, 

 service-tree, Ume and cherry love mountains watered 

 by springs. The plum, pomegranate, wikl ohve, 

 walnut, mulberry and elder-trees are not generally 

 found on mountains ; and the cornel cheiTy, hazcl, 

 oak, mountain ash, maple, ash, beech, hornbeam 

 come down from the mountains to level ground 

 also, while the elm, apple, pear, bay, myrtle, red 

 comel, holm-oak and the broom, designed by Nature 

 for dyeing cloth, spread up from the plains to moun- 

 tain regions as well. The service-tree dehghts in 

 cold places, but even more the birch. The latter 

 is a GaUic tree, of a remarkable white colour and 

 slenderness, a cause of terror as supplying the 

 niagistrates' rods of office ; it is also easily bent to 

 make hoops and Ukewise the ribs of smaU baskets, 

 and the Gauls extract from it bitumen by boiUng. 

 These trees are accompanied into the same regions 

 by the may also, the most auspicious tree for 

 supplying wedding torches, because according to 

 the account of Masurius it was used for that purpose 

 by the shepherds who carried off the Sabine women ; 

 but at the present time the hornbeam and the hazel 

 are most usuaUy employed for torches. 



XXXI. The cypress, walnut, chestnut and labur- Treesthat 

 num disUke water. The last is another Alpine tree, MS<!r^ 

 and is not generaUy known ; its wood is hard and 

 white and its flower, which is half a yard long, bees 

 wiU not touch. The shrub caUed .Jupiter's bcard, 

 used in ornamental gardening and clipped into a 



437 



