BOOK XVI. Lxix. 176-LXX1. 179 



cut off serve as ties, and also the hazel when twisted 

 — and it is surprising that any wood should make 

 stronger ties after being bruised by twisting; 

 nevertheless it is the willow that has the properties 

 specially required for this purpose. The Greek red 

 willow is spht, whilc the Amerian willow, which has a 

 Hghter colour but is a Httlc more fragile, is conse- 

 quently used as a tie without having been split. 

 Three kinds are known in Asia: the black willow, 

 which is more useful for ties, the white willow for 

 agricultural pui*poses, and a third kind, which is the 

 shortest, called the helix. With us also many people 

 distinguish the same number of varieties by name ; 

 they call one ' plaiting willow ' and also * purple willow,' 

 another, which is thinner, ' dormouse willow ' from 

 its colour, and a third,the thinnest, ' Gallic willow.' 



LXX. The rush, having a fragile stalk and being a Ruskes. 

 marsh plant, is not rightly to be reckoned in the class 

 of bushes or of brambles or plants with stalks, nor yet 

 among herbaceous plants, or in any other class 

 except its own ; it is used for making thatch and 

 mats, and stripped of its outer coat serves for 

 candles and funeral torches. In some places rushes 

 are stronger and stiffer, for they are used to carry 

 sails not only by boatmen on the Po but also at sea 

 by the African fisherman, who hangs his sail in a 

 preposterous fashion, between masts, and the Moors 

 use them for roofing their cabins ; and if one looks 

 closely into the matter, rushes may appear to occupy 

 the place held by the papyrus in the inner region 

 of the world.** 



LXXI. Among water-plants, in a class of their own Brambies 

 but of a bushy nature, are also brambles, and so are a"^^^*- 

 elders,* which are of a spongy nature, though in a 



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