Trees, Shrubs, and Plants of Virgil 



Cerasus. 



' puUulat ab radice aliis densissima silva | ul cerasis ' 



{Ge. ii. 17). 



Virgil makes no. mention of the cherry which is 

 indigenous in the woods of Italy. This is the gean, 

 a tree without suckers, and with a dark and some- 

 what harsh fruit, from which is descended the 

 morello. Virgil's cherry is Prunus cerasus, which 

 produces many suckers, is rather a bush than a tree, 

 and affords a red and juicy fruit. It is the origin 

 of most of our cherries. The Romans held that it 

 was introduced into this country by Lucullus in 

 73 B.C., but it seems never to have taken rank as 

 a iirst-rate fruit. It was thought that they were 

 best gathered with the morning dew on them. 

 Eaten stone and all they were accounted a remedy 

 for the gout. 



Flower, April. 

 Italian name, Visciolo. 



Cerintha. 



' cerinthae ignobile gramen ' {Ge. iv. 63). 



Honeywort (Cerinthe aspera) is a common plant 

 in Italian fields and woody places, and is still called 

 • cerinta.' It is allied to our garden lungworts, and 

 like some of them has leaves spotted with white. 

 The flowers are yellow, with a purple base. Virgil 

 joins it with balm as material for an ointment in- 

 ducing a swarm of bees to settle in a hive. 



The epithet applied to it is difficult, for in habit 

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