Trees, Shrubs, and Plants of Virgil 



berry was held to give a better product than the 

 more common type, of which the berries are round 

 and white. 



The trees on which the mistletoe is most com- 

 monly parasitic in Italy are apples, pears, poplars, 

 plums, and almonds. 



It is supposed that its association with Christmas 

 came from a dedication to Saturn, which made it 

 figure at the Saturnalia. 



Flower, March and April. 

 Italian name, Vischio. 



VlTIS AND LABRUSCA. 



The former is the cultivated and the latter the 

 wild form of the vine (Vitis vinifera), a native of 

 northern Persia, cultivated from prehistoric times. 

 The vine came to Greece, perhaps, by way of 

 Damascus, where it flourishes greatly, and where 

 lately our soldiers have eaten what one of them 

 called ' huge grapes, by bucketfuls.' As chance 

 seedlings, produced by the pilfering of birds, are 

 apt to return to the wild stock, the ' labrusca ' has 

 naturalized itself in woods, and occasionally on sea- 

 beaches, in Italy. Homer pictures it as creeping 

 round the entrance of Calypso's island cave, and 

 Virgil in a like position on a Sicilian grotto, 

 ' Antrum | silvestris raris sparsit labrusca racemis ' 

 {Ec. v. 6). The scanty bunches provided a small 

 grape, of which peasants made a rough and thin wine. 



The cultivation of the vine, in its native country 



138 



