ELM FAMILY 



states. The fruit is sweet and not unpleasant, and is loved 

 by the birds. 



The type is ancient, traces of Celtis have been found in the 

 miocene rocks of Europe. 



The European Nettle, Celtis australis^ is supposed to have 

 been the Lotus of the ancients, whose fruit Herodotus, Dios- 

 corides, and Theophrastus describe as sweet, pleasant, and 

 wholesome. Homer makes Ulysses say : 



I sent explorers forth — two chosen men, 



A herald was the third — to learn what race 



Of mortals nourished by the fruits ot earth 



Possessed the land. They went and found themselves 



Among the Lotus-eaters soon, who used 



No violence against their lives, but gave 



Into their hands the lotus plant to taste. 



Whoever tasted once of that sweet food 



Wished not to see his native country more 



Nor give his friends the knowledge of his fate ; 



And then my messengers desired to dwell 



Among the Lotus-eaters, and to feed 



Upon the lotus, never to return. 



—Odyssey, Book IX. 



252 



