Trees, Shrubs, and Plants of Virgil 



Coarsely ground, partly roast, and mixed with salt, 

 it was called mola, and used in sacrifices and incan- 

 tations (Ec. viii. 84). In our third passage Virgil, 

 like Horace, uses ' far ' in the sense of mola. From 

 the latter comes the verb ' immolo,' to sacrifice. 



Spelt is still cultivated in Italy on soils where 

 wheat fails. The covering of the grain is as ad- 

 hesive as that of barley. 



The ' donatio adorea ' was in old agricultural 

 Rome the reward of a soldier for gallantry. Thus 

 1 adorea ' came to mean victory, and is so used in 

 a fine line by Horace, who calls the day of Metaurus 



that 



1 qui primus alma risit adorea.' 



Like other esculent grasses, spelt broke into 

 several varieties. The best and whitest was grown 

 about Chiusi, but another white kind gave a heavier 

 crop. The kind called 'rutilum' had of course a 

 reddish grain, and was held in less account. 



Italian name, Spelta. 

 Ferula. 



'florentes ferulas et grandia lilia ' (Ec. x. 25). 



This splendid umbelliferous plant (Ferula com- 

 munis), though not very common in Italy, is widely 

 distributed over the lower altitudes. The dark 

 green and finely divided leaves make a fine mound 

 in spring, and the flowering stem rises to six feet 

 and in cultivation much more. It was held that 

 this stem was the means by which Prometheus con- 



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