The sorb,[2407] and even still more the birch,[2408] are fond of a cold site; this last is a native of Gaul, of singular whiteness and slender shape, and rendered terrible as forming the fasces of the magistracy. From its flexibility it is employed also in making circlets and the ribs of panniers. In Gaul,[2409] too, they extract a bitumen from it by boiling. To a cold site, also, belongs the thorn, which affords the most auspicious torches[2410] of all for the nuptial ceremony; from the circumstance, as Massurius assures us, that the shepherds, on the occasion of the rape of the Sabine women, made their torches of the wood of this tree: at the present day, however, the woods of the yoke-elm and the hazel are more generally employed for this purpose. CHAP. 31.—TREES WHICH GROW ON A DRY SOIL: THOSE WHICH ARE FOUND IN WET LOCALITIES: THOSE WHICH ARE FOUND IN BOTH INDIFFERENTLY. The cypress, the walnut, the chesnut, and the laburnum,[2411] are averse to water. This last tree is also a native of the Alps, and far from generally known: the wood is hard and white,[2412] and the flowers, which are a cubit[2413] in length, no bee will ever touch. The shrub, too, known as Jupiter’s beard,[2414] manifests an equal dislike to water: it is often clipped, and is employed in ornamental gardening, being of a round, bushy form, with a silvery leaf. The willow, the alder, the poplar,[2415] the siler,[2416] and the privet,[2417] so extensively employed for making tallies,[2418] will only grow in damp, watery places; which is the case also with the vaccinium,[2419] grown in Italy for drugging our slaves,[2420] and in Gaul for the purpose of dyeing the garments of slaves a purple colour. All those trees[2421] which are common to the mountains and the plains, grow to a larger size, and are of more comely appearance when grown on the plains, while those found on the mountains have a better wood and more finely veined, with the exception of the apple and the pear. CHAP. 32. (19.)—DIVISION OF TREES INTO VARIOUS SPECIES. In addition to these particulars, some of the trees lose their leaves, while others, again, are evergreens. Before, however, we treat of this distinction, it will be necessary first to touch upon another. There are some trees that are altogether of a wild nature, while there are others, again, that are more civilized, such being the names[2422] by which man has thought fit to distinguish the trees. Indeed, these last, which by their fruits or some other beneficial property, or else by the shade which they afford, show themselves the benefactors of man, are not inappropriately called “civilized”[2423] trees. CHAP. 33. (20.)—TREES WHICH DO NOT LOSE THEIR FOLIAGE. THE RHODODENDRON. TREES WHICH DO NOT LOSE THE WHOLE OF THEIR FOLIAGE. PLACES IN WHICH THERE ARE NO TREES.