Alnus 



and vinegar. Its name was ' moretum,' and the 

 poem with that title, ascribed to Virgil, supplies this 

 work with some names of plants. 



Flower, June and Jury. 

 Italian name, Aglio. 



Alnus. 



' crassis . . . paludibus alni | nascuntur ' (Ge. ii. no). 

 'tunc alnos primum fluvii sensere cavatas ' (Ge. i. 136). 



The alder (Alnus glutinosa) is a common tree along 

 river-banks in most parts of Europe, and goes up to 

 three thousand feet above sea-level on the Apennines. 

 It is akin to the birch, which in Italy is confined 

 to sub-alpine districts and is not mentioned by 

 Virgil. The hollowed trunk supplied an early, though 

 perhaps not the earliest, form of a boat. It is 

 plentiful on the Po, where it seems still to have been 

 used for boat-building in Virgil's days : ' innatat 

 ainus missa Pado ' (Ge. ii. 451). The flowers and 

 fruits are in a somewhat inelegant catkin, which 

 appears before the leaves. Hence the jilted shepherd, 

 in praying for an inversion of Nature, desires that 

 the blossoms of the poet's narcissus may appear 

 upon the alder: 'narcisso floreat alnus' (Ec. viii. 53). 

 Virgil notices the very rapid growth of alder shoots 

 in spring {Ec. x. 74). 



Flower, March. 

 Italian name, Ontano. 



*3 



