Pirus 



the Crustumine, and the Volemum (Ge. ii. 88). Ac- 

 cording to Pliny and Columella the second was the 

 best, but none were accounted very wholesome unless 

 stewed in wine. The Syrian, called also the Taren- 

 tine, may be the bergamot. The third kind is said 

 to get its name from ' vola,' the palm of the hand, 

 which one fruit would fill, and is perhaps the same 

 as Pliny's ' librale ' or pound pear. Martial men- 

 tions a good kind, which ' docta Neapolis creavit,' 

 and Naples retains its renown for good horticulture. 



The pear-tree was used, as it still is, for a stock 

 on which to graft apples (Ge. ii. 33). Virgil held 

 that the pear itself could be grafted on the manna 

 ash, but there is no kinship between the two. 



The wild pear sometimes makes large woods, as 

 on some of the lower slopes of Soracte, which in 

 spring are white with its blossom. 



Flower, April and May. 

 Italian name, Pero. 



Platanus. 



' platani steriles ' (Ge. ii. 70). 



The plane (Platanus Orientalis), as a native tree, 

 does not come west of Greece, though Theophrastus 

 held that it was native to one Adriatic island. Pliny, 

 however, says that it was planted there. It was, 

 however, extensively planted and has established 

 itself along the rivers and the fiumicini of Calabria. 

 It seems to have taken a long time to become accli- 



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