Trees, Shrubs, and Plants of Virgil 



and other parts of England. Pliny says that the 

 rhizomes were given to swine to fatten them. 



Italian name, Felce aquilina. 



Fragum. 



' humi nascentia fraga ' (Ec. Hi. 92). 



The wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is abundant 

 in the hilly districts of Italy and Sicily. Although 

 the large strawberry had been developed before 

 Linnaeus assigned the specific name to our plant, 

 it seems not to have been a Roman plant. The 

 fruit of the wild kind was valued below its merits. 

 Of all table fruits it grew closest to the ground. 



Flower, April and May. 



Italian names, Fragola and Fravola. 



Fraxinus. 



' fraxinus in silvis pulcherrima ' (Ec. vii. 65). 

 'ingens | fraxinus' (Ge. ii. 65). 

 'fraxineae . . . trabes' (At. vi. 181). 



The ash (Fraxinus excelsior) deserves Virgil's 

 epithet and its specific name, for it out-towers the 

 manna ash, and is sometimes nearly a hundred feet 

 high. 



The timber had many uses. Poles of the younger 

 growth were used as supports for vines. 



The leaves, like those of the elm, were habitually 

 stripped as food for cattle (Ec. ix. 60), as they still 



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