Trees, Shrubs, and Plants of Virgil 



is a suggestion that his man is mad. Theophrastus, 

 however, held that the best variety grew on Mount 

 Oeta. Virgil, whose epithet refers to the poisonous 

 quality of the plant, recommends its use in a sheep- 

 dip, which by competent authorities is held to be 

 a very good one. Modern gardeners use the pow- 

 dered rhizome to kill caterpillars. 



Flower, June and July. 



Italian names, Veladro and Elabro bianco. 



HiBISCUM. 



' haedorum . . . gregem viridi compellere hibisco ' 



(Ec. ii. 30). 

 ' gracili fiscellam texit hibisco ' {Ec. x. 71). 



From Dioscorides and Theophrastus we find that 

 our plant had three names : one that used by Virgil, 

 another that adopted by Linnaeus, while the third 

 was wild mallow. We call it the marsh mallow 

 (Althaea officinalis), and find it in sea marshes of 

 southern England. Its light pink flowers much 

 resemble those of its kinsmen, the mallows. The 

 flowering stem is sometimes four feet high, and 

 could be used as a wand in driving kids. It yields 

 a long and strong fibre, out of which the shepherd 

 in our second passage weaves a pliant basket, such 

 as we use for carrying fish. Virgil sometimes uses 

 an adjective where we use a noun. As he writes 

 ' tenue aurum,' meaning threads of gold, so here he 

 writes ' gracili hibisco,' meaning fibre of mallow. 



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