Lilium 



common in ancient days, and it is the only lily 

 which is a native of Sicily. Virgil names it as a 

 bee plant (Ae. vi. 709). 



Flower, May to July. 

 Italian name, Giglio. 



Linum. 



' urit enim campum lini seges ' (Ge. i. 77). 

 ' velati lino ' (Ae. xii. 120). 



The reading in the latter passage is doubtful, and 

 many editors accept ' limo.' 



The manufacture of linen dates back to prehis- 

 toric times. The earliest linen seems to have been 

 made of flax supplied by the fibrous bark of Linum 

 angustifolium, a native of the Mediterranean region 

 and of north-west Europe. This plant is some- 

 times annual, sometimes perennial, but is inferior to 

 L. usitatissimum, an annual, which was perhaps a 

 native of Asia Minor, though now it seems to occur 

 only in cultivation or as a relic of it. In Italy it 

 seems to have been grown to no great extent and 

 only for the oil of its seeds, linen being imported 

 from the East. Another product of flax is cambric, 

 and both this and linen were and are used in the 

 vestments of priests. Fishing nets were made of 

 the fibre (Ge. i. 142). 



Virgil's observation that flax ' runs ' the soil is 

 confirmed both by ancient and by modern observa- 

 tion, and some of the Roman authorities would on 

 that account dissuade farmers from growing it. 



69 



