Trees, Shrubs, and Plants of Virgil 



CUCURBITA. 



'gravis in latum demissa cucurbita ventrem' (Mor. 76). 



The original country of the pumpkins and gourds 

 is in some doubt. The kind named in our line is 

 perhaps Cucurbita Pepo, which was brought from 

 the Levant to England in the reign of Elizabeth. 

 By Columella's time there were several varieties in 

 Italy, perhaps some species and others hybrids. 

 Pumpkins were cheap food, and an economical or 

 niggardly entertainer could make of one fruit a dozen 

 different dishes by cutting it into different shapes 

 and cooking the sections in different ways. 



Flower, summer. 

 Itahan name, Zucca. 



CUPRESSUS, OR CYPARISSUS, 



' coniferae cyparissi' (Ae. iii. 680). 

 ' Idaeis . . . cyparissis ' {Ge. ii. 84). 

 ' vittis atraque cupresso ' (Ae. iii. 64). 

 'ferales . . . cupressos' (^4^. vi. 216), 

 ^\ ' quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi ' (Ec. i. 26). 



The cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) seems to 

 have travelled westward from the Taurus moun- 

 tains, and Virgil may be right in taking it for a 

 native also of the Caucasus (Ge. ii. 443). In speak- 

 ing of cypresses of Ida (ib. 84) he seems to have in 

 mind the belief of Theophrastus that the tree was 

 native in Crete. In travelling by railway in Italy 

 you may often descry on the hillside a square en- 

 closed by cypresses, whose fastigiate growth makes 



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