392 
•PLINX'S NATURAL HISTOllY. [Book XVI, 
Some trees, again, throw out branches from the roots, the 
elm for example ; while others are branchy at the top, the 
pine for instance, and the lotus or Grecian bean, the fruit of 
which, though wild, resembles the cherry very closely, and is 
called the lotus at Eome, on account of its sweetness. Por 
sheltering houses these trees are more particularly esteemed, 
as they throw out their branches to a considerable distance, 
from a short trunk, thus affording a very extensive shade, and 
very frequently encroaching upon the neighbouring mansions. 
There is no tree, however, the shade afforded by which is less 
long-lived than this, and when it loses its leaves in winter, 
it affords no shelter from the sun. "No tree has a more sightly 
bark, or one which has greater attractions for the eye ; or 
branches which are longer, stouter, or more numerous; in- 
deed, one might almost look upon them as forming so many 
trees. The bark^^ of it is used for dyeing skins, and the root 
for colouring wool. 
The branches of the apple-tree have a peculiar conformation ; 
knots are formed which resemble the muzzles of wild beasts, 
several smaller ones being united to a larger. 
CHAP. 54. THE BEANCHES OF TEEES. 
Some of the branches are barren, and do not germinate ; this 
takes place either from a natural deficiency of strength, or else 
some injury received in consequence of having been cut, and 
the cicatrix impeding the natural functions. The same that the 
branch is in the trees that spread out, is the eye^^ in the vine, 
and the joint in the reed. All trees are naturally the thickest 
in the parts that are nearest the ground. The fir, the larch, the 
palm, the cypress, and the elm, and, indeed, every tree that 
has but a single trunk, develope themselves in their remark- 
able height. Among the branchy trees the cherry is some- 
times^^ found to yield a beam forty cubits in length by two in 
The Celtis australis of Linnaeus. Pliny is in error in calling this tree 
the Grecian bean." In B. xiii. c. 22, he erroneously calls the African 
lotus by the name of " celtis,'* which only belongs to the lotus of Italy ; 
that of Africa being altogether different. 
^6 The bark, which is astringent, is still used in preparing skins, and a 
black colouring matter extracted from the root is employed in dyeing wool. 
Quite an accidental resemblance, if, indeed, it ever existed. 
*' Oculus " — the bud on the trunk. 
59 This must be either a mistake or an exaggeration ; the cherry never 
being a very large tree. 
