ELM FAMILY 



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

 by the birds. 



'J1ie type is ancient, traces of Celtis have been found in the 

 niiocene rocks of Europe. 



'I'he European Nettle, Celtis aiisiralis, is supposed to have 

 been the Lotus ol the ancients, whose fi^uit Merodotus, ]>ios- 

 coi'ides, and Theophrastus describe as sweet, pleasant, and 

 wholesome. Httmer makes Ulysses say : 



1 sen! explorers forth — two chosen men, 



A herald was the third — to learn what ra^e 



Ot mortals nourished l:)y the truits ot earth 



Possessed th^^ land They went and found themselves 



Among the Lotus-eaters soon, who used 



No violence a^jainst their livis, but gave 



Into their hands the lotus plant to taste. 



Whoever tasted once ut 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, Boolv IX„ 



asa 



