

CHAP. II. BRITISH ISLANDS. 23 



service is to be found in a wild state in Britain, viz., Wyre Forest 

 in Worcestershire, the remains of a Roman villa were some 

 years ago discovered (see Arch. Mag., ii. p. 94.). It is not im- 

 probable that the tree referred to may be a descendant from a 

 service tree planted in the orchard belonging to the adjoining 

 Roman villa. The chestnut belongs to Sardis in Asia Minor; 

 and it was brought thence to Tarentum and Naples, where 

 it was cultivated with great success in the reign of Vespasian. 

 That the chestnut was in Britain as early as the 12th century is 

 placed beyond dispute by Giraldus Cambrensis, who, in speak- 

 ing of the trees of Britain which Ireland wants, mentions the 

 chestnut and the beech. Daines Barrington conjectures that 

 the chestnut was probably brought into England from Spain; 

 and Dr. Ducarel, who had a dispute with Barrington on 

 the subject (see Phil. Trans., lix. and lxi.), endeavours to 

 prove that it is a native. Mr. Whitaker thinks, and, in our 

 opinion, with great reason, that the tree was brought into Britain 

 by the Romans. The medlar, according to Pliny, was brought 

 into Italy from Greece, at what period is uncertain; as is also 

 when it was introduced into Britain. The rose was brought 

 from Italy by the Romans, the best being those of Praenestina 

 and Campania. The rosemary and the thyme are also supposed 

 to have been introduced by the Romans. The thyme, in the 

 days of Vespasian, Pliny observes (xxi. 10.), so greatly over- 

 spread the plains in the province of Narbonne, that many 

 thousands of cattle were brought every year from the distant 

 parts of the country to fatten upon it. 



In a paper on the subject of indigenous trees, in the Archceologia, 

 by Daines Barrington, he lays down a test by which it may be 

 known what trees ought to be considered as truly indigenous : 

 that they gtow in large masses, and spread over a considerable 

 breadth of surface; that such masses never end abruptly, ex- 

 cept where there is a sudden change in the soil or the sub- 

 stratum ; and, that the trees or shrubs ripen their seeds kindly, 

 and that when these seeds are dropped, they spring up freely. 

 Applying these tests to what are commonly considered native 

 trees, he rejects positively the sweet chestnut, the lime, the 

 English elm; and the box. As doubtful, he reckons the ^4 v cer 

 Pseudo-Platanus, and the white poplar (Populus alba), and even 

 the yew, which, he says, is seldom found but in churchyards or 

 in artificial plantations. He also doubts the spindle tree and 

 the privet. A few lime trees, he thinks, such as those in Moor 

 Park in Hertfordshire, and on the river Neath in Glamorgan- 

 shire, have been introduced by the alien abbots and priors, when 

 they came to visit their religious houses ; but the tree was not 

 generally planted till after the time of Le Notre, in the reign of 

 Charles I., who introduced it extensively in avenues, as was then 



