12 THE TREES AND SHRUBS [LECT. 



Distinguishing it from Quercus by adding 



" Atque habitse Graecis oracula quercus." 

 He also describes it as deeply rooted 



" Quaiitum vertice ad auras 

 JEthereas, tantum radice ad Tartara tendit." 



A description, however, which he transfers to the 

 Quercus in the 4th JSneid. 



But Virgil and Horace do not seem to speak of 

 the same tree as Pliny, for his Q. esculus is a small 

 tree, whilst their descriptions apply to one of gi- 

 gantic proportions. 



Martin 1 justly remarks, that although the tree 

 may be the tyrjyo? of Theophrastus, it cannot be the 

 Fag us of Pliny, for the latter describes the Fagus as 

 having its gland included in a triangular covering, 

 and with a leaf small and very light, resembling 

 the Poplar ; remarking that the different species of 

 Oak have a gland, properly so called. Ovid also 

 and Virgil both describe the Esculus as having 

 large leaves. It seems to have been less common 

 in Italy than the Quercus, although Plorace speaks 

 of extensive forests of it in Apulia. I cannot, 

 therefore, submit to Martin's view, that it is the 

 sessile variety of the common Oak, but regard 

 it as the Tuscan Oak, Quercus esculus of the 

 moderns. 



Pliny and Theophrastus both describe an Oak 

 under the specific name of Ifemeris, rj/jLepls. The 

 latter term was evidently applied to it by the 



1 Notes on Georg. 2. 



