356 
plint's katueal htstobt. 
[Book XYI. 
wine, from the very first, may be fully known. "Whereas 
there are several among the trees already mentioned in Asia 
or the East, that produce pitch, in Europe there are hut 
six varieties of kindred trees that supply it. In this number 
there are the pine*^ and the pinaster,^ which have long thin 
leaves like hair, and pointed at the end. The pine yields the 
least resin of them all : in the pine nut, indeed, of which we 
have previously spoken,^ it is sometimes to be found, but 
hardly in sufficient quantities to warrant us in reckoning the 
pine among the resinous trees. 
CHAP. 17. THE PINASTEK. 
The pinaster is nothing else but a wild pine : it rises to a 
surprising height, and throws out branches from the middle, 
just as the pine does from the top. This tree yields a more 
copious supply of resin than the pine : the mode in which this 
is done we shall set forth on a future occasion. It grows 
also in flat countries. Many people think that this is the 
same tree that grows along the shores of Italy, and is known 
as the tibulus but this last is slender, and more com- 
pact than the pine ; it is likewise free from knots, and hence 
is used in the construction of light gallies they are both almost 
entirely destitute of resin. 
CHAP. 18. — THE pitch-tree: the fir. 
The pitch -tree loves the mountain heights and cold loca- 
lities. This is a funereal tree, and, as an emblem of death, is 
placed before the door of the deceased, and is left to grow in 
the vicinity of the funeral pile. Still, however, it is now 
some time since it was admitted into our gardens, in conse- 
quence of the facility with which it is clipped into various 
shapes. It gives out considerable quantities of resin, which 
The Pinus pinea of Linnseus, the cultivated pine. 
^ The Pinus. silvestris of Linnaeus, the wild pine ; the Pinus maritima of 
Lamarck is a variety of it. 
^ B. XV. c. 9. 10 In c. 23 of this Book. 
11 A variety of the Pinus silvestris of Linnaeus. 
12 ^'Liburnicae." See B. ix. cc. 5 and 48. 
13 The Abies excelsa of Decandolle — the Fesse or Faux sapin (false fir) 
of the French. This tree, however, has not the pectinated, or comb-like 
leaf, mentioned by Pliny in c. 38. 
1^ It is still known in commerce as false incense ;" and is often sold 
