Trees, Shrubs, and Plants of Virgil 



is a suggestion that his man is mad. Theophrastus, 

 however, held that the best variety grew on Mount 

 Oeta. Virgil, whose epithet refers to the poisonous 

 quality of the plant, recommends its use in a sheep- 

 dip, which by competent authorities is held to be 

 a very good one. Modern gardeners. use the pow- 

 dered rhizome to kill caterpillars. 



Flower, June and July. 



Italian names, Veladro and Elabro bianco. 



Hibiscum. 



' baedorum . . . gregem viridi compellere hibisco ' 



(Ec, ii. 30). 

 'gracili fiscellam texit hibisco' (Ec. x. 71). 



From Dioscorides and Theophrastus we find that 



our plant had three names : one that used by Virgil, 



another that adopted by Linnaeus, while the third 



was wild mallow. We call it the marsh mallow 



(Althaea officinalis), and find it in sea marshes of 



southern England. Its light pink flowers much 



resemble those of its kinsmen, the mallows. The 



flowering stem is sometimes four feet high, and 



could be used as a wand in driving kids. It yields 



a long and strong fibre, out of which the shepherd 



in our second passage weaves a pliant basket, such 



as we use for carrying fish. Virgil sometimes uses 



an adjective where we use a noun. As he writes 



' tenue aurum/ meaning threads of gold, so here he 



writes ' gracili hibisco,' meaning fibre of mallow. 



54 



