Trees, Shrubs, and Plants of Virgil 



of Pan and the Shepherds. Sir James Frazer sug- 

 gests that one reason for the association of the pine 

 with Attis may have been the value of its seeds 

 as food. They are still gathered in Italy and sold 

 and eaten as fruit. 



Pine wood was used not only for shipbuilding but 

 also for fuel. Sprays of the trees were used for 

 skimming pots of must or fermenting grape juice 

 {Ge. i. 296). Virgil's word for the spray is 'folium,' 

 and Pliny tells us that this word meant a spray of 

 a coniferous tree. 



It should be added that the dominant pine on 

 Mount Ida appears to be neit«ber of Virgil's species, 

 but one which is found in some sea-coast districts of 

 southern Italy. This is the Aleppo pine (P. Hale- 

 ponsis), which, according to Theophrastus, was the 

 chief shipbuilding tree of Cyprus. It is probably 

 included under Virgil's name. It is a slender tree, 

 not growing to a great height. 



Flower, February to April. 

 Italian names : Pino da pinocchi (Stone pine). 

 Pino di Scozia (Scotch fir). 



PiRUS. 



' insere nunc, Meliboee, piros ' {Ec. i. 13 ; cf . Ec. ix. 50)- 



' ornus . . . incanuit albo | flore piri ' {Ge. ii. 71 ). 



' in versum distulit . . . eduram . . . pirum ' (Ge. iv, 144). 



Virgil's pear seems to be Pyrus domestica, which 

 may or may not be a cultivated form of the wild 

 pear (P. communis). It had already developed into 

 several varieties, of which Virgil mentions the Syrian, 



102 



